in search of Gaeilge literature

[Antaine]

A chairde,

I’m doing a dissertation in which I look at the different ways poverty is treated by Irish and English authors (particularly of novels) from the famine to the Free State. I have some English language Irish authors on my list (Kickham, Banim, Carleton, and others), but I am wondering if my theories hold for Irish-language writers as well. I’m wondering if there are any distinctive Gaeilge novels (or even short stories or poetry, if the topic is right) published between 1850 and 1920 that I should be considering. Texts which depict rural community life will be of particular use to me.

le buíochas,
Antaine

[Cúnla]

Have a look at Pádraic Ó Conaire’s work, for one…

[Seáinín]

B’fhéidir scríobhfá chuig na daoine ag Litriocht.com le haghaidh a moltaí. info@litriocht.com

[Onuvanja]

I would imagine most of literature written in Irish at the time is bound to reflect rural life and poverty, e.g. the Blasket novels and why not their ultimate send-up An Béal Bocht?

[Antaine]

But the catch is that what I’m looking for has to have been published between 1850 and 1920. Most of the old novels I’ve got, like An Béal Bocht, were published in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

And then I have the issue where I know of few famous titles of old works I haven’t read, so I don’t know whether or not it will ultimately deal with the material I need.

[Onuvanja]

Oh, sorry, Antaine. I misread your post and thought you also included the Free State up to 1937. Then Ó Conaire is more your man. Perhaps you could also get something out of the writings of An t-Athair Peadar Ó Laoghaire?

[Cúnla]

Sorry, didn’t have time to fill in more before, but yeah, Pádraic Ó Conaire (namely “[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pádraic_Ó_Conaire]Sean-Phádraic[/url],” 1882-1928) would seem to me quite likely to have the sort of thing you’re looking for, both in many of his short stories and in his novel [url=http://research.dho.ie/fng/index.php?fng_function=4&fng_file=LC035.TXT]Deoraíocht[/url] (= DeoraıḋeaÄ‹t)…

More of his work, along with, e.g., other Irish-language works published from 1882-1926, is available online at <[url=http://research.dho.ie/fng/index.php]http://research.dho.ie/fng/index.php[/url]>, and on [url=https://archive.org]archive.org[/url].

[mac léinn]

Sorry, didn’t have time to fill in more before, but yeah, Pádraic Ó Conaire (namely “[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pádraic_Ó_Conaire]Sean-Phádraic[/url],” 1882-1928) would seem to me quite likely to have the sort of thing you’re looking for, both in many of his short stories and in his novel [url=http://research.dho.ie/fng/index.php?fng_function=4&fng_file=LC035.TXT]Deoraíocht[/url] (= DeoraıḋeaÄ‹t)…

More of his work, along with, e.g., other Irish-language works published from 1882-1926, is available online at <[url=http://research.dho.ie/fng/index.php]http://research.dho.ie/fng/index.php[/url]>, and on [url=https://archive.org]archive.org[/url].

how did you find this novel at archive.org?
http://archive.org/search.php?query=DEORAIDHEACHT

Perhaps the vocabulary must be partcular to the Connacht dialect?
Many words are not found in the online dictionaries like Pota Focal
eg.: http://potafocal.com/Search.aspx?Text=TIODHLACADH

grma

[Cúnla]

Well, a mhic léinn, Deoraíocht itself isn’t on archive.org, but in case it would be of use to you and/or Antaine (OP), some other works by Ó Conaire (not all of which I’ve read myself) are available there, e.g.:

[url=https://archive.org/details/briang00couoft]Brıan Óg[/url]
[url=https://archive.org/details/edlosgalta00ocon]An ÄŠéad ÄŠloÄ‹[/url] [= An Chéad Chloch]
[url=https://archive.org/details/cranngagach1ai00couoft]An Crann GéagaÄ‹[/url] [= An Crann Géagach]
[url=https://archive.org/details/seatmbuaieireama00ocon]SeaÄ‹t mBuaıḋ an ÉırÄ¡e-AmaÄ‹[/url] [= Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach]
[url=https://archive.org/details/seoigheachghlean00couoft]SeoıġeaÄ‹ an Ä leanna[/url] [= Seoigheach an Ghleanna]
[url=https://archive.org/details/sgaltatsirsi00couoft]Sgéalta an tSáırsınt Rua[/url] [= Scéalta an tSáirsint Rua]
[url=https://archive.org/details/solabhasga00couoft]Síol Éaḃa[/url] [= Síol Éabha]

However, as you have noticed with Deoraíocht, these (the public-domain stuff available online) are all editions published a ways before the standardization of the spelling in the forties, and thus some understanding of the old spelling system is called for, even if only for guessing at the standardized spelling to find it in a dictionary! Pádraig Ua Duinnín (Dinneen)’s dictionary might be more useful in this case, since it’s in the old spelling itself.

Alternatively, of course, you could look for newer editions where the spelling has been standardized, though I’m not sure whether that exists for everything by Ó Conaire…

[Antaine]

Thanks. I believe I had already placed a few of these things on order before I posted the original message. As for your the newest suggestions, which of them uses contemporary Irish community life as a backdrop (as Knocknagow does, for instance)?

I know many things were written during this period, but a lot of it would not apply (things whose purpose is deep allegory, or things set in mythology or a different time period). Summaries of these texts are often difficult to find, and in posting here I was hoping to eliminate, at least to some degree, wasting the effort of translating half a book only to realize that it does not apply to my thesis.

[An Lon Dubh]

Antaine,

You should really get your hand on Philip O’Leary’s “Prose Literature of the Gaelic Revival”. It’s practically a guide to the type of literature you want. There is an entire chapter on novels concerning rural life and poverty.

I’d also recommend “Mo scéal féin” by Peadar Ua Laoghaire. It’s the life of a priest who lived through the famine.

[Author]

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