Modern literature in Irish
Encyclopedia
Although Irish
has been used as a literary language
for more than 1500 years (see Irish literature
), and in a form intelligible to contemporary speakers since at least the sixteenth century, modern literature in Irish owes much to the Gaelic Revival
, a cultural movement which began in the late nineteenth century.
(Seathrún Céitinn) in Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (History of Ireland), a much-read 17th century work. Céitinn's Irish, however, was soon ousted by the popular dialects actually being spoken in the Gaeltacht
aí, especially as championed by a native speaker from the Coolea-Muskerry area, Father Peadar Ua Laoghaire
, who in the 1890s published, in a serialised form, a folkloristic novel strongly influenced by the storytelling tradition of the Gaeltacht
, called Séadna. His other works include the autobiography Mo Scéal Féin and retellings of classical Irish stories, as well as a recently reissued adaptation of Don Quixote.
Ua Laoghaire was soon followed by Patrick Pearse
, who was to be executed as one of the leaders of the Easter Rising
. Pearse learnt Irish in Rosmuc and wrote idealised stories about the Irish-speaking countryside, as well as nationalistic poems in a more classical, Keatingesque style.
Pádraic Ó Conaire
was a pioneer in the writing of realistic short stories in Irish; he was also to the forefront of Irish-language journalism. His most important book is his only novel, Deoraíocht (Exile), which combines realism with absurdist elements. He was to die in the nineteen twenties, not yet fifty years old. Ó Conaire became something of a mythical figure in Irish literary folklore because of his highly individual talent and engaging personality.
to record the lives of native speakers in authentic dialect. This interest from outside stimulated several notable autobiographies, especially on Great Blasket Island: Peig by Peig Sayers
, An tOileánach ("The Islandman") by Tomás Ó Criomhthain
, and Fiche Bliain ag Fás ("Twenty Years a-Growing") by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin
.
Micí Mac Gabhann
was the author of Rotha Mór an tSaoil ("The Big Wheel of Life"), written in his native Ulster Irish
. The title refers to the Klondike gold rush
, ruathar an óir, at the end of the 19th century, and the hardship Irish gold-seekers endured on their way to tír an óir, the gold country.
Another important figure was the prolific writer of rural novels, Séamus Ó Grianna
(pen name "Máire").
Séamus Ó Grianna's most important contribution to modern literature in the language might be the fact that he persuaded his brother Seosamh
(who called himself Seosamh Mac Grianna
in Irish) to write in Irish. Seosamh was a less prolific and less fortunate writer than his brother, and was stricken by a severe depressive psychosis in 1935, so that he had to spend the rest of his life – more than fifty years – at a psychiatric hospital. Before his psychosis, however, he wrote an impressive novel about the difficult transition to modernity in his own Gaeltacht
, called An Druma Mór ("The Big Drum" or "The Fife and Drum Band"), as well as a powerful and introspective account of his travels called Mo Bhealach Féin ("My Own Way"). His last novel, Dá mBíodh Ruball ar an Éan ("If the Bird Had a Tail"), a study of the alienation of a Gaeltacht
man in Dublin, was left unfinished, a fact suggested by the title.
Both brothers were acknowledged translators. In addition to Walter Scott
's Ivanhoe
into Irish, Seosamh's work in this field includes the Irish versions of Joseph Conrad
's Almayer's Folly
, in Irish Díth Céille Almayer, as well as Peadar O'Donnell
's Adrigoole, in Irish Eadarbhaile.
was developed further by Máirtín Ó Cadhain
, a schoolmaster from Connemara, who was the Irish-language littérateur engagé par excellence. He was active in the IRA
, and spent The Emergency years (i.e. the years of the Second World War) at a detention camp in Curach Chill Dara (Curragh, County Kildare
) together with other IRA men. At the camp he began his modernist masterpiece, the novel Cré na Cille ("Churchyard Clay"). Reminiscent of some Latin American novels (notably Redoble por Rancas by Manuel Scorza
, or Pedro Páramo
by Juan Rulfo
), this novel is a chain of voices of the dead speaking from the churchyard, where they go on forever quarrelling about their bygone life in their village. The novel is a refutation of the romantic view of the Gaeltacht
typical of the early years of the linguistic revival, and an excellent example of Ó Cadhain's dark and scarifying prose.
In addition to Cré na Cille, Máirtín Ó Cadhain wrote several collections of short stories (one 'short' story, "Fuíoll Fuine" in the collection An tSraith dhá Tógáil, can count as a novella). An important part of his writings is his journalism, essays, and pamphlets, found in such collections as Ó Cadhain i bhFeasta, Caiscín, and Caithfear Éisteacht.
Máirtín Ó Cadhain's prose is dense, powerful and (especially in his early work) difficult for the novice. His style changed and became simpler with time, in part reflecting the urban world in which he settled. Essentially he wrote in an enriched form of his native dialect, even in contexts where a less dialectal style would have been appropriate. He was not afraid of enriching his Irish with neologisms and loanword
s from other dialects, including Scottish Gaelic
.
Modernism and renewal are also represented by several writers not of Gaeltacht background, such as Eoghan Ó Tuairisc
, Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin, and Breandán Ó Doibhlin (the last influenced by French literary theory). Ó Tuairisc, a stylistic innovator, wrote poetry and plays as well as two interesting novels on historical themes: L'Attaque, and Dé Luain. Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin sought to adapt Irish to the urban world: An Uain Bheo and Caoin Thú Féin offered a realistic depiction of a middle-class environment and its problems. Ó Doibhlin's Néal Maidine agus Tine Oíche is an example of introspective modernism.
Among the outstanding Irish-language poets of the first half of the 20th century were Seán Ó Ríordáin
, Máirtín Ó Direáin
and Máire Mhac an tSaoi
. Ó Ríordáin was born in the Cork Gaeltacht: his poetry is conventional in form but intensely personal in content. He was also a brilliant prose writer, as evidenced by his published diaries. Ó Direáin, born on the Aran Islands
, began as the poet of nostalgia and ended in austerity. Máire Mhac an tSaoi, who is also a scholar of note, has published several collections of lyric verse in which the classical and colloquial are effortlessly fused.
, Micheál Ó Conghaile and Pádraig Ó Cíobháin are three of the most important. They adhere in general to the realist tradition, as does Dara Ó Conaola
. The work of Joe Steve Ó Neachtain
, from the Conamara Gaeltacht, has proved consistently popular.
Caitlín Maude
(d.1982), a native speaker from Conamara, wrote fluent and elegant verse with a distinctively modern sensibility. One of the best known poets is Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
, who was raised in the Munster Gaeltacht and was part of the new wave of the sixties and seventies. She is particularly interested in the mythic element in reality. Biddy Jenkinson (a pseudonym) is representative of an urban tradition: she is a poet and a writer of witty detective stories.
Others of Ní Dhomhnaill's generation were the mordant Michael Hartnett
(who wrote both in Irish and English) and Michael Davitt
(d.2005), a lyric poet whose work is both whimsical and melancholy. Others of his generation are Liam Ó Muirthile and Gabriel Rosenstock
. Among those who followed are Cathal Ó Searcaigh
, Tomás Mac Síomóin
, Diarmuid Johnson and Louis de Paor
. Ó Searcaigh, a lyric poet, is also a traveller: this bore fruit in his engaging travelogue about Nepal
, Seal i Neipeal.
There is now more emphasis on popular writing in Irish, and among the writers who have had considerable success with lighter genres is Éilís Ní Dhuibhne
, novelist, playwright and short story writer. Lorcán S. Ó Treasaigh has written a popular autobiography called Céard é English? (What is English?) about growing up as a native Irish speaker in the predominatly English-speaking city of Dublin. Colm Ó Snodaigh
's novella, Pat the Pipe - Píobaire, describes a busker's adventures in Dublin's streets in the nineties.
The short story remains a popular genre. Donncha Ó Céileachair and Síle Ní Chéileachair, brother and sister, published the influential collection Bullaí Mhártain in 1955: it dealt with both urban and rural themes. In 1957 Liam O'Flaherty
(Liam Ó Flaithearta), who had been brought up with Irish on the Aran Islands, published the collection Dúil, his only work in the Irish language. One of the best known of contemporary practitioners is Seán Mac Mathúna (who also writes in English). He is not a prolific writer: his work is characterised by a poetic realism and has been praised for its originality. A writer of a more recent generation is Daithí Ó Muirí. The drive, black humour and absurdist quality of his work distinguish it from the realism of most modern writing in Irish.
Panu Petteri Höglund, a linguist, writer and translator, belongs to Finland
's Swedish
-speaking minority. He uses Irish as a creative medium, and has set himself the goal of producing entertaining and modern writing in an Irish up to Gaeltacht standards. For a long time he experimented with Ulster Irish on the Web, but he published his first book in standard Irish, albeit strongly influenced by native folklore and dialects.
Muiris (Mossie) Ó Scanláin, a native speaker from the Kerry Gaeltacht now resident in Melbourne
, has written an autobiography in his own dialect (one rich in autobiographies) called An Mám ó Dheas, describing his life in Ireland, England and Australia.
Work of a different sort has been produced by Colin Ryan
, an Australian whose short stories have appeared in the journals Feasta and Comhar
. His stories, like Höglund's, are set outside Ireland, and often have a hallucinatory quality. He has also published poetry.
(founded in 1942) and Feasta
(founded in 1948). The latter, presently edited by the poet and activist Pádraig Mac Fhearghusa, is the journal of the Gaelic League, though it has an independent editorial policy. Both magazines publish short fiction and poetry: the manifesto of Feasta also declares that one of its objects is to encourage students to write in Irish.
Feasta has enjoyed more stability than Comhar, which suffered from a declining readership and has now been reconstituted. It is presently edited by the veteran journalist Pól Ó Muirí.
Both magazines have had as contributors some of the most notable figures in modern Irish-language literature, and continue to encourage new writing.
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
has been used as a literary language
Literary language
A literary language is a register of a language that is used in literary writing. This may also include liturgical writing. The difference between literary and non-literary forms is more marked in some languages than in others...
for more than 1500 years (see Irish literature
Irish literature
For a comparatively small island, Ireland has made a disproportionately large contribution to world literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages.-The beginning of writing in Irish:...
), and in a form intelligible to contemporary speakers since at least the sixteenth century, modern literature in Irish owes much to the Gaelic Revival
Gaelic Revival
The Gaelic revival was the late-nineteenth-century national revival of interest in the Irish language and Irish Gaelic culture...
, a cultural movement which began in the late nineteenth century.
Early revival
By the end of the nineteenth century, Irish had dwindled from being the dominant language of Ireland to being the first language only of a minority, and little literature was being produced. The Gaelic Revival sought to arrest this decline. In the beginning the revivalists preferred the style used in Early Modern (Classical) Irish, notably by Geoffrey KeatingGeoffrey Keating
Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian. He was born in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644...
(Seathrún Céitinn) in Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (History of Ireland), a much-read 17th century work. Céitinn's Irish, however, was soon ousted by the popular dialects actually being spoken in the Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
aí, especially as championed by a native speaker from the Coolea-Muskerry area, Father Peadar Ua Laoghaire
Peadar Ua Laoghaire
Father Peadar Ua Laoghaire was an Irish writer and Catholic priest, who is regarded today as one of the founders of modern literature in Irish.-Life:...
, who in the 1890s published, in a serialised form, a folkloristic novel strongly influenced by the storytelling tradition of the Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
, called Séadna. His other works include the autobiography Mo Scéal Féin and retellings of classical Irish stories, as well as a recently reissued adaptation of Don Quixote.
Ua Laoghaire was soon followed by Patrick Pearse
Patrick Pearse
Patrick Henry Pearse was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916...
, who was to be executed as one of the leaders of the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
. Pearse learnt Irish in Rosmuc and wrote idealised stories about the Irish-speaking countryside, as well as nationalistic poems in a more classical, Keatingesque style.
Pádraic Ó Conaire
Pádraic Ó Conaire
Pádraic Ó Conaire was an Irish writer and journalist whose production was primarily in the Irish language.-Life:Ó Conaire was born in Galway in 1882. His father was a publican, who owned two premises in the town...
was a pioneer in the writing of realistic short stories in Irish; he was also to the forefront of Irish-language journalism. His most important book is his only novel, Deoraíocht (Exile), which combines realism with absurdist elements. He was to die in the nineteen twenties, not yet fifty years old. Ó Conaire became something of a mythical figure in Irish literary folklore because of his highly individual talent and engaging personality.
Early twentieth-century writing from the Gaeltachtaí
From the end of the 19th century researchers were visiting the GaeltachtGaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
to record the lives of native speakers in authentic dialect. This interest from outside stimulated several notable autobiographies, especially on Great Blasket Island: Peig by Peig Sayers
Peig Sayers
Peig Sayers was an Irish author and seanachaí born in Dunquin , County Kerry, Ireland. Seán Ó Súilleabháin, the former archivist for the Irish Folklore Commission, described her as "one of the greatest woman storytellers of recent times".-Biography:She spent much of her early life as a domestic...
, An tOileánach ("The Islandman") by Tomás Ó Criomhthain
Tomás Ó Criomhthain
Tomás Ó Criomhthain was a native of the Irish-speaking Great Blasket Island off the coast of County Kerry in Ireland. He wrote two books, Allagar na h-Inise written over the period 1918–23 and published in 1928, and , completed in 1923 and published in 1929...
, and Fiche Bliain ag Fás ("Twenty Years a-Growing") by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin
Muiris Ó Súilleabháin
Muiris Ó Súilleabháin became famous for his memoir of growing up on the Great Blasket Island off the western coast of Ireland, Fiche Bliain ag Fás , published in Irish and English in 1933...
.
Micí Mac Gabhann
Micí Mac Gabhann
Micí Mac Gabhann was a seanchaí and memoirist from the County Donegal Gaeltacht. His posthumously published memoir Rotha Mór an tSaoil was dictated to his folklorist son-in law Seán Ó hEochaidh and translated into English by Valentin Iremonger as The Hard Road to Klondike...
was the author of Rotha Mór an tSaoil ("The Big Wheel of Life"), written in his native Ulster Irish
Ulster Irish
Ulster Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the Province of Ulster. The largest Gaeltacht region today is in County Donegal, so that the term Donegal Irish is often used synonymously. Nevertheless, records of the language as it was spoken in other counties do exist, and help provide...
. The title refers to the Klondike gold rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
, ruathar an óir, at the end of the 19th century, and the hardship Irish gold-seekers endured on their way to tír an óir, the gold country.
Another important figure was the prolific writer of rural novels, Séamus Ó Grianna
Séamus Ó Grianna
Séamus Ó Grianna was an Irish writer, who used the pen name Máire. Born into a family of poets and storytellers in Ranafast, County Donegal, he attended local primary school until the age of 14. He spent several years at home and as a seasonal worker in Scotland. He attended an Irish language...
(pen name "Máire").
Séamus Ó Grianna's most important contribution to modern literature in the language might be the fact that he persuaded his brother Seosamh
Seosamh Mac Grianna
Seosamh Mac Grianna was an Irish writer, in his early career under the pen-name Iolann Fionn. He was born into a family of poets and storytellers, which included his brothers Séamus Ó Grianna and Seán Bán Mac Grianna, in Ranafast, County Donegal, at a time of linguistic and cultural...
(who called himself Seosamh Mac Grianna
Seosamh Mac Grianna
Seosamh Mac Grianna was an Irish writer, in his early career under the pen-name Iolann Fionn. He was born into a family of poets and storytellers, which included his brothers Séamus Ó Grianna and Seán Bán Mac Grianna, in Ranafast, County Donegal, at a time of linguistic and cultural...
in Irish) to write in Irish. Seosamh was a less prolific and less fortunate writer than his brother, and was stricken by a severe depressive psychosis in 1935, so that he had to spend the rest of his life – more than fifty years – at a psychiatric hospital. Before his psychosis, however, he wrote an impressive novel about the difficult transition to modernity in his own Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
, called An Druma Mór ("The Big Drum" or "The Fife and Drum Band"), as well as a powerful and introspective account of his travels called Mo Bhealach Féin ("My Own Way"). His last novel, Dá mBíodh Ruball ar an Éan ("If the Bird Had a Tail"), a study of the alienation of a Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
man in Dublin, was left unfinished, a fact suggested by the title.
Both brothers were acknowledged translators. In addition to Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
's Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott in 1819, and set in 12th-century England. Ivanhoe is sometimes credited for increasing interest in Romanticism and Medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the middle ages," while...
into Irish, Seosamh's work in this field includes the Irish versions of Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
's Almayer's Folly
Almayer's Folly
Almayer's Folly, published in 1895, is Joseph Conrad's first novel. Set in the late 19th century, it centers on the life of the Dutch trader Kaspar Almayer in the Borneo jungle and his relationship to his half-caste daughter Nina.-Plot:...
, in Irish Díth Céille Almayer, as well as Peadar O'Donnell
Peadar O'Donnell
Peadar O'Donnell was an Irish republican and socialist activist and writer.-Early life:Peadar O'Donnell was born into an Irish speaking family in Dungloe, County Donegal in northwest Ireland, in 1893. He attended St. Patrick's College, Dublin, where he trained as a teacher...
's Adrigoole, in Irish Eadarbhaile.
Irish-language modernism
Modernist literatureModernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
was developed further by Máirtín Ó Cadhain
Máirtín Ó Cadhain
Máirtín Ó Cadhain was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century.-Career:Born in Connemara, he became a schoolteacher but was dismissed due to his IRA membership. In the 1930s he served as an IRA recruiting officer, enlisting fellow writer Brendan Behan...
, a schoolmaster from Connemara, who was the Irish-language littérateur engagé par excellence. He was active in the IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
, and spent The Emergency years (i.e. the years of the Second World War) at a detention camp in Curach Chill Dara (Curragh, County Kildare
Kildare
-External links:*******...
) together with other IRA men. At the camp he began his modernist masterpiece, the novel Cré na Cille ("Churchyard Clay"). Reminiscent of some Latin American novels (notably Redoble por Rancas by Manuel Scorza
Manuel Scorza
Manuel Scorza was an important Peruvian novelist, poet, and political activist, exiled under the regime of Manuel Odría. He was born in Lima....
, or Pedro Páramo
Pedro Páramo
Pedro Páramo is a short novel written by Juan Rulfo, originally published in 1955. In just the 23 FCE editions and reprintings, it had sold 1,143,000 copies by November 1997. Other editions in Mexico, Spain, and other nations have sold countless more copies...
by Juan Rulfo
Juan Rulfo
Juan Rulfo was a Mexican author and photographer. One of Latin America's most esteemed authors, Rulfo's reputation rests on two slim books, the novel Pedro Páramo , and El Llano en llamas...
), this novel is a chain of voices of the dead speaking from the churchyard, where they go on forever quarrelling about their bygone life in their village. The novel is a refutation of the romantic view of the Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
typical of the early years of the linguistic revival, and an excellent example of Ó Cadhain's dark and scarifying prose.
In addition to Cré na Cille, Máirtín Ó Cadhain wrote several collections of short stories (one 'short' story, "Fuíoll Fuine" in the collection An tSraith dhá Tógáil, can count as a novella). An important part of his writings is his journalism, essays, and pamphlets, found in such collections as Ó Cadhain i bhFeasta, Caiscín, and Caithfear Éisteacht.
Máirtín Ó Cadhain's prose is dense, powerful and (especially in his early work) difficult for the novice. His style changed and became simpler with time, in part reflecting the urban world in which he settled. Essentially he wrote in an enriched form of his native dialect, even in contexts where a less dialectal style would have been appropriate. He was not afraid of enriching his Irish with neologisms and loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s from other dialects, including Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
.
Modernism and renewal are also represented by several writers not of Gaeltacht background, such as Eoghan Ó Tuairisc
Eoghan Ó Tuairisc
Eoghan Ó Tuairisc was an Irish poet and writer.-Life:He was a native of Ballinasloe, County Galway and was educated at Garbally College. His entered St. Patrick’s Teacher Training College, Drumcondra in 1939, graduating with a Diploma in Education in 1945...
, Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin, and Breandán Ó Doibhlin (the last influenced by French literary theory). Ó Tuairisc, a stylistic innovator, wrote poetry and plays as well as two interesting novels on historical themes: L'Attaque, and Dé Luain. Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin sought to adapt Irish to the urban world: An Uain Bheo and Caoin Thú Féin offered a realistic depiction of a middle-class environment and its problems. Ó Doibhlin's Néal Maidine agus Tine Oíche is an example of introspective modernism.
Among the outstanding Irish-language poets of the first half of the 20th century were Seán Ó Ríordáin
Seán Ó Ríordáin
-Life:He was born in Baile Mhúirne, County Cork, the eldest of three children of Seán Ó Ríordáin of Baile Mhúirne and Mairéad Ní Loineacháin of Cúil Ealta....
, Máirtín Ó Direáin
Máirtín Ó Direáin
Máirtín Ó Direáin born in Sruthán on Inismór in the Aran Islands was an Irish language poet.The son of a small-farmer, Máirtín Ó Direáin spoke only Irish until his mid-teens. He worked as a civil servant from 1928 until 1975...
and Máire Mhac an tSaoi
Máire Mhac an tSaoi
-Background:Mhac an tSaoi was born as Máire MacEntee in Dublin in 1922. Her father, Seán MacEntee, a native of Belfast, was a founding member of Fianna Fáil, a long-serving TD and Tánaiste in the Dáil and a participant in the Easter Rising of 1916. Her mother, County Tipperary-born Margaret Browne...
. Ó Ríordáin was born in the Cork Gaeltacht: his poetry is conventional in form but intensely personal in content. He was also a brilliant prose writer, as evidenced by his published diaries. Ó Direáin, born on the Aran Islands
Aran Islands
The Aran Islands or The Arans are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. They constitute the barony of Aran in County Galway, Ireland...
, began as the poet of nostalgia and ended in austerity. Máire Mhac an tSaoi, who is also a scholar of note, has published several collections of lyric verse in which the classical and colloquial are effortlessly fused.
Contemporary literature in Irish
Among Gaeltacht writers, Pádraic BreathnachPádraic Breathnach
Pádraic Breathnach, Irish actor, performer, writer and television producer, born c. 1950.A fluent Irish speaker, Pádraic grew up in Carna, Connemara. As a student in NUI Galway, he was deeply involved with An Cumann Drámaíochta and Dramsoc, where he teamed up with Ollie Jennings in a series of...
, Micheál Ó Conghaile and Pádraig Ó Cíobháin are three of the most important. They adhere in general to the realist tradition, as does Dara Ó Conaola
Dara Ó Conaola
Dara Ó Conaola is an Irish writer who writes in Irish. His first book, Mo Chathair Ghriobháin, established him as an important contemporary writer in the language. Night Ructions, was launched at the 1990 Sunday Times Festival of Literature, Hay-on-Wye, Wales.In 2001 his novella Misiún ar Muir/Sea...
. The work of Joe Steve Ó Neachtain
Joe Steve O Neachtain
Joe Steve Ó Neachtain, Irish actor and playwright.Ó Neachtain portrays Peadar Ó Conghaile on Irish language drama Ros na Rún. A native of An Spidéal, he first appeared on the programme in 1996. He has acted on stage in Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe, while for the past ten years he has written and acted...
, from the Conamara Gaeltacht, has proved consistently popular.
Caitlín Maude
Caitlín Maude
Caitlín Maude was an Irish poet, actress and traditional singer.She was born in Casla, County Galway, and reared in the Gaelic language. Her mother was also a school teacher from Casla. Caitlín's father, John Maude, was from Cill Bhriocáin in Ros Muc. Her mother worked as a teacher on a small...
(d.1982), a native speaker from Conamara, wrote fluent and elegant verse with a distinctively modern sensibility. One of the best known poets is Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish poet.Born in Lancashire, England in 1952, of Irish parents, she moved to Ireland at the age of 5, and was brought up in the Dingle Gaeltacht and in Nenagh, County Tipperary. Her uncle is Monsignor Pádraig Ó Fiannachta of An Daingean, the leading authority alive on...
, who was raised in the Munster Gaeltacht and was part of the new wave of the sixties and seventies. She is particularly interested in the mythic element in reality. Biddy Jenkinson (a pseudonym) is representative of an urban tradition: she is a poet and a writer of witty detective stories.
Others of Ní Dhomhnaill's generation were the mordant Michael Hartnett
Michael Hartnett
Michael Hartnett was an Irish poet who wrote in both English and Irish. He was one of the most significant voices in late 20th century Irish writing and has been called "Munster's de facto poet laureate"....
(who wrote both in Irish and English) and Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt (poet)
Michael Davitt was a Irish poet who published in the Irish language. He has been characterized as "...one of modern Ireland's finest poets in either of the nation's languages and key figure in the 1970s Gaelic poetry movement....
(d.2005), a lyric poet whose work is both whimsical and melancholy. Others of his generation are Liam Ó Muirthile and Gabriel Rosenstock
Gabriel Rosenstock
Gabriel Rosenstock is an Irish poet, haiku writer, translator and author. He was born in Kilfinane, County Limerick in 1949. He currently resides in Dublin.-Biography:...
. Among those who followed are Cathal Ó Searcaigh
Cathal Ó Searcaigh
Cathal Ó Searcaigh is an Irish poet who writes in the Irish language .Ó Searcaigh was born in Gort a' Choirce, a town in the Gaeltacht region of Donegal, and lives at the foot of Mount Errigal...
, Tomás Mac Síomóin
Tomás Mac Síomóin
Dr. Tomás Mac Síomóin was born in Dublin in 1938. A doctoral graduate of Cornell University, New York, he has worked as a biological researcher and university lecturer in the USA and Ireland. He has worked as a journalist, as editor of the newspaper Anois and, for many years, he was editor of the...
, Diarmuid Johnson and Louis de Paor
Louis de Paor
Louis de Paor is a well-known poet in the Irish language. Born in Cork in 1961 and educated at Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh, de Paor edited the Irish language journal Innti, founded in 1970 by Michael Davitt, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Liam Ó Muirthile and Gabriel Rosenstock...
. Ó Searcaigh, a lyric poet, is also a traveller: this bore fruit in his engaging travelogue about Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Seal i Neipeal.
There is now more emphasis on popular writing in Irish, and among the writers who have had considerable success with lighter genres is Éilís Ní Dhuibhne
Eilis Ni Dhuibhne
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is an Irish novelist and short-story writer who writes both in Irish and English. She is also known as Elisabeth O'Hara.-Biography:...
, novelist, playwright and short story writer. Lorcán S. Ó Treasaigh has written a popular autobiography called Céard é English? (What is English?) about growing up as a native Irish speaker in the predominatly English-speaking city of Dublin. Colm Ó Snodaigh
Colm Ó Snodaigh
Colm Ó Snodaigh is a member of the traditional Irish folk group Kíla. Born in Dublin and reared on the south side of Dublin by Sandymount's sea, Colm is a native Irish speaker and was schooled at both Scoil Lorcáin and Coláiste Eoin...
's novella, Pat the Pipe - Píobaire, describes a busker's adventures in Dublin's streets in the nineties.
The short story remains a popular genre. Donncha Ó Céileachair and Síle Ní Chéileachair, brother and sister, published the influential collection Bullaí Mhártain in 1955: it dealt with both urban and rural themes. In 1957 Liam O'Flaherty
Liam O'Flaherty
Liam O'Flaherty was a significant Irish novelist and short story writer and a major figure in the Irish literary renaissance, born August 28, 1896, died September 7, 1984.-Biography:...
(Liam Ó Flaithearta), who had been brought up with Irish on the Aran Islands, published the collection Dúil, his only work in the Irish language. One of the best known of contemporary practitioners is Seán Mac Mathúna (who also writes in English). He is not a prolific writer: his work is characterised by a poetic realism and has been praised for its originality. A writer of a more recent generation is Daithí Ó Muirí. The drive, black humour and absurdist quality of his work distinguish it from the realism of most modern writing in Irish.
Writers in Irish abroad
Countries other than Ireland have produced several contributors to literature in Irish, reflecting the existence globally of a group who have learned or who cultivate the language. It is of note that these writers and their readers do not always form part of the traditional diaspora.Panu Petteri Höglund, a linguist, writer and translator, belongs to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
's Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
-speaking minority. He uses Irish as a creative medium, and has set himself the goal of producing entertaining and modern writing in an Irish up to Gaeltacht standards. For a long time he experimented with Ulster Irish on the Web, but he published his first book in standard Irish, albeit strongly influenced by native folklore and dialects.
Muiris (Mossie) Ó Scanláin, a native speaker from the Kerry Gaeltacht now resident in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, has written an autobiography in his own dialect (one rich in autobiographies) called An Mám ó Dheas, describing his life in Ireland, England and Australia.
Work of a different sort has been produced by Colin Ryan
Colin Ryan
Colin Ryan is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club Newmarket and has been a member of the Clare since 2009.-References:...
, an Australian whose short stories have appeared in the journals Feasta and Comhar
Comhar
Comhar is a prominent literary journal in the Irish language, published by the company Comhar Teoranta. It was founded in 1942, and has published work by some of the most notable writers in Irish, including Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Máirtín Ó Direáin, Máire Mhac an tSaoi and Brendan Behan...
. His stories, like Höglund's, are set outside Ireland, and often have a hallucinatory quality. He has also published poetry.
Literary magazines
The two Irish-language literary magazines chiefly responsible for the encouragement of poetry and short fiction are ComharComhar
Comhar is a prominent literary journal in the Irish language, published by the company Comhar Teoranta. It was founded in 1942, and has published work by some of the most notable writers in Irish, including Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Máirtín Ó Direáin, Máire Mhac an tSaoi and Brendan Behan...
(founded in 1942) and Feasta
Feasta
Feasta is an Irish-language magazine that was established in 1948. Its purpose is the furtherance of the aims of the Gaelic League, an objective reflecting the cultural nationalism of the language movement, and the promotion of new writing...
(founded in 1948). The latter, presently edited by the poet and activist Pádraig Mac Fhearghusa, is the journal of the Gaelic League, though it has an independent editorial policy. Both magazines publish short fiction and poetry: the manifesto of Feasta also declares that one of its objects is to encourage students to write in Irish.
Feasta has enjoyed more stability than Comhar, which suffered from a declining readership and has now been reconstituted. It is presently edited by the veteran journalist Pól Ó Muirí.
Both magazines have had as contributors some of the most notable figures in modern Irish-language literature, and continue to encourage new writing.
Irish-language publishers
A number of publishers specialise in Irish-language material. They include the following.- Cló Chaisil publishes books in Irish only. It produces books for children, teenagers and adults.
- Cló Iar-Chonnachta, founded in 1985, has as its particular aim the publishing of work by Gaeltacht writers. It has published over 300 books, predominantly in Irish, together with music.
- Cois Life, established in 1995, publishes literary and academic works. Its output includes plays, fiction and poetry.
- Coiscéim, founded in 1980, has published about 700 books, making it the largest private publisher in Ireland.
- An GúmAn GúmAn Gúm was an Irish state company tasked with the publication of Irish literature, especially educational materials.The agency is now part of Foras na Gaeilge. Its mission statement is "To produce publications and resources in support of Irish-medium education and of the use of Irish in general."...
has been publishing books in Irish since 1926 under the aegis of the Irish State. It is the largest Irish language publisher in the country, and now mainly publishes lexicography, textbooks and other curricular resources, together with material for children and young adults.
- An tSnáthaid Mhór, founded in 2005, aims to publish high-quality contemporary books.
- Irish PagesIrish PagesIrish Pages: A Journal of Contemporary Writing is a literary magazine published in Belfast and edited by Chris Agee and Cathal Ó Searcaigh. It was launched in 2002 and appears biannually....
, founded in 2002, is a bilingual English and Irish journal. Its September 2010 issue is dedicated to writing in Irish.
Links
- Irish languageIrish languageIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
- Irish language outside IrelandIrish language outside IrelandThe Irish language originated in Ireland, and has spread to other countries at different periods.Irish was historically the dominant language of the Irish people and they brought their Gaelic speech with them to numerous other countries. An early example was the widespread use of Irish in Wales,...
- Status of the Irish languageStatus of the Irish languageIrish is the main community and household language of 3% of the population of the Republic of Ireland . Estimates of fully native speakers range from 40,000 up to 80,000 people...
External links
- Cló Iar-Chonnachta
- Cois Life
- Coiscéim
- An tSnáthaid Mhór
- Litríocht.com: catalogue and book-ordering service
See also
- J.E. Caerwyn Williams agus Máirín Uí Mhuiríosa. Traidisiún Liteartha na nGael. An Clóchomhar Tta, 1979.