Islandman translated: Tomas O'Crohan, autobiography and the politics of culture
The writings of Tomas O’Crohan in the early twentieth century were celebrated upon publication as icons of Irishness and the voice of the mysterious Gaeltacht expressing itself at last and just in time. Appearing at a sensitive time in Irish history, the reading of these texts as relics of an heroic Irish past nourished hopes of a brave Irish future. Their English translations, though received no less enthusiastically, have often been dismissed as imperfect and undesirable conduits to the author. Informed by the basic theme of dialogue, this thesis examines the politics of culture that brought the Islandman, man and book, into being, and that have surrounded the texts since they first appeared. It considers both the autobiography itself and the translation in terms of cultural process as well as product. It identifies the desire to control the reading of the texts as a legacy of the Gaelic League desire to wall the Irish culture in and examines it from several points of view – most notably from the points of view of translation theory, autobiography theory and, to a lesser extent, post-colonial theory. These modes of enquiry show that the sites of constraint imposed upon the texts reflect a cultural anxiety about what is revealed about this community that was made to represent Ireland. They demonstrate that the conventional reading of the texts, which privileges Tomas’ fisherman identity, has veiled the writer protagonist inscribed in the texts, subordinating his identity as a writer to his identity as a peasant. The thesis contests the reading of Tomas’ work as “representative” and “authentic” with a recognition of the personal aspects of the individual self that Tomas inscribed in his work.
Core Values among the Blasket Islanders
AbstractThe Blasket Islands off the coast of south-west Ireland were the home of the most westerly Europeans, until the last inhabitants were evacuated in 1953. They were essentially fishermen, but also pursued limited farming, increasingly supplemented by transfer payments from the Irish state, and by the remittances of those islanders who had emigrated in expanding numbers to the United States. The Blasket people maintained a rich oral tradition that preserved much of the Celtic heritage that elsewhere had passed into oblivion. Regrettably they were not visited by a social anthropologist, although students of the Irish language, as well as folklorists, went in some numbers from the Scandinavian countries and Britain.
The Western island ; or, The Great Blasket
Dr Flower spent a considerable amount of time between 1910 and 1930 living amongst the 150 inhabitants of the Great Blasket Island. He tells of the adversities and frugality of the Gaelic-speaking people, of the folk-tales and the stories of ghosts and fairies and poets. This book is intended for readers of country classics; those interested in Irish culture, literature; readers of other Blasket Island titles.