The Vanishing World Of The Islandman: Narrative And Nostalgia
by MГЎirГ©ad Nic Craith /
2019 / English / PDF
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Exploring An t-Oilenach (anglicised as The Islandman), an indigenous Irish-language memoir written by Toms Criomhthain (Toms O'Crohan), Mirad Nic Craith charts the development of Criomhthain as an author the writing, illustration, and publication of the memoir in Irish and the reaction to its portrayal of an authentic, Gaelic lifestyle in Ireland. As she probes the appeal of an island fishermans century-old life-story to readers in several languagesconsidering the memoirs global reception in human, literary and artistic termsNic Craith uncovers the indelible marks of Criomhthains writing closer to home: the Blasket Island Interpretive Centre, which seeks to institutionalize the experience evoked by the memoir, and a widespread writerly habit amongst the diasporic population of the Island. Through the overlapping frames of literary analysis, archival work, interviews, and ethnographic examination, nostalgia emerges and re-emerges as a central theme, expressed in different ways by the young Irish state, by Irish-American descendants of Blasket Islanders in the US today, by anthropologists, and beyond.
