Conamara Chronicles

Tim Robinson, Liam Mac Con Iomaire

Description

"I find him to be a kindred spirit, a sympathetic but shrewd enquirer, a companionable stroller, and a lover of anecdotes gathered by the wayside."  

So Tim Robinson described folklorist, revolutionary, and district justice Seán Mac Giollarnáth, whose 1941 book Annála Beaga ó Iorras Aithneach revealed his sheer delight in the rich language and stories of the people he encountered in Conamara, the Irish-speaking region in the south of Connemara. From tales of smugglers, saints, and scholars to memories of food, work, and family, the stories gathered here provide invaluable insights into the lives and culture of the community. This faithful and lovingly crafted translation, complete with annotations, a biography, and thoughtful chapters that explore the importance of the language and region, is the final work of both Robinson and his collaborator, the renowned writer and Irish language expert Liam Mac Con Iomaire.

Translated into English for the first time, Conamara Chronicles: Tales from Iorras Aithneach preserves the art of storytellers in the West of Ireland and honors the inspiration they kindle even still. 

A Personal Note
Acknowledgments
Nomenclature
Reading this Volume
Space, Time & Connemara, by Tim Robinson
The Brief Annals: An Introductory Note, by Liam Mac Con Iomaire
1. The Holy Men and the Islands
2. Troubled Times
3. The Year of the French (1798)
4. The Tories / Vigilantes
5. Big Men
6. Robbers and Treasures
7. Smugglers
8. Poor Scholars
9. Priests
10. People and Places
11. Boatmen and Timber
12. Food
13. Wisps of Straw
14. Custodians of Traditional Lore and Storytellers
Reading this Volume: Meet the Storytellers, by Liam Mac Con Iomaire
Bibliography
Maps
Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Idioma inglés
• Idioma galés
• Folclore
• Gaelic
• Ireland
• Mythology
• Irish
• English
• Connemara
• Stephen Ireland
• European
• Welsh
• Scottish
• Langues gaéliques
• Musique irlandaise
• Folklore
• Anglais

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 27 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253063540
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

CONAMARA CHRONICLES
TALES FROM IORRAS AITHNEACH
IRISH CULTURE, MEMORY, PLACE
Oona Frawley, Ray Cashman, Guy Beiner, editors

This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.org
Originally Published in Gaelic as Ann la Beaga Iorrus Aithneach 1941 Se n Mac Giollarn th
English Translation 2022 Indiana University Press
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2022
Cataloging information is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-253-06351-9 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-253-06352-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-253-06353-3 (ebook)
Ann la Beaga Iorrus Aithneach
Se n Mac Giollarn th do bhailigh
Oifig an tSol thair
Baile tha Cliath
1941
In memory of:
Liam Mac Con Iomaire (1937-2019)
M ir ad Robinson (1935-2020)
Tim Robinson (1935-2020)
CONTENTS
A Personal Note / Tim Robinson
Acknowledgments
Nomenclature
Reading This Volume
Prologue : Space, Time Connemara / Tim Robinson
Conamara Chronicles : An Introductory Note / Liam Mac Con Iomaire
1. The Holy Men and the Islands
2. Troubled Times
3. The Year of the French (1798)
4. The Tories/Vigilantes
5. Big Men
6. Robbers and Treasures
7. Smugglers
8. Poor Scholars
9. Priests
10. People and Places
11. Boatmen and Timber
12. Food
13. Wisps of Straw
14. Custodians of Traditional Lore and Storytellers
Meet the Storytellers / Liam Mac Con Iomaire
Bibliography
Maps
Author Biographies
Placename Index
A PERSONAL NOTE
Tim Robinson
WHERE MIGHT ONE GLIMPSE SUCH a person as Myles of the Bees, who would chase a bee for a mile over bog and rocky hillside to find out its nest, or walk from his home on the coast to a remote mountain village in a similar search for sweetness, looking for a kiss from a young woman ? Where might one hear the howls of English soldiers tricked into landing on an offshore island and left to die there by the outlawed priest they had just arrested? Or lend a hand to a fisherman s wife walking home from Galway, a hard and hilly fifty miles, with the makings of a pair of oars, a boat s sail, and its rigging tied on her back, all in a day? Or hear the desolate croak of the raven whose eggs had been stolen, hard-boiled, and replaced, and in whose nest was found the stone of all gifts ? These beings sole existence in the 1930s, say, was in the fireside and turf bank talk of Iorras Aithneach, an Irish-speaking peninsula of south Connemara, and their persistence down to our own days is largely due to an amateur but gifted inquirer, Justice Se n Forde, who took down their stories from the best local seanchaithe or bearers of old lore. Se n Mac Giollarn th, to give him his folkloric name, was wise enough not to try to improve or correct his sources Irish, but recorded it in all its countryside pungency and directness. When I was making my map of Connemara in the 1990s, and later in the writing of Connemara: A Little Gaelic Kingdom , I found his book Ann la Beaga Iorras Aithneach such a trove of placelore that I vowed to repay my debt to it by republication, translation, and annotation. The one failing of the original is due to the fact that Mac Giollarn th did most of his research in the bar of Mongan s Hotel in Carna, so that the location of the score of little coves, rocks, and hillocks named in it were not recorded. However, when I was exploring the area in detail, I inquired out most of them and can add that extra dimension to the matter through maps and notes.

Figure 1 Se n Mac Giollarn th (1880-1970) and Sgeol n. Baili ch n Mhic Giollarn th / Ford Family Collection.
So, here at last is the fulfilment of that promise, made possible by the labors of Liam Mac Con Iomaire, who prepared an Irish version of the original in modernized spelling, taking care to preserve the dialectal tang of Connemara Irish, which he had listened to from his zeroth birthday as it were. Then he undertook an English version, which we kicked to and fro between the two of us until it seemed to us as close to the original text as the impossible art of translation allows. We dedicate the result to the Irish talkers of Connemara. May their voices never be silenced.
But what manner of man was this predecessor whose footprints I found waiting for me in the bogs of Connemara? A vague, thrown away observation of some village historian tells us that Justice Forde had been known to impose a just fine on a brewer of poit n or netter of salmon, and then, knowing that the like of such money was not to be had in the cottages, pay the fine himself. I feel I can trust this man as a sure-footed guide on quaggy bog and razor-edged granite. He is for me a figure of justice, even of Justice with a capital J .
TR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE TRANSLATORS WISH TO GRATEFULLY acknowledge the assistance of the following:
Barbara Mhic Con Iomaire; M.; M ir n Nic Con Iomaire D nall Braon in; John Drever; Jennika Baines, Lesley Bolton and all at Indiana University Press; Pete Feely and team, Amnet Systems; Seosamh Murch , Eagarth ir Sinsearach, An G m, Foras na Gaeilge; Jonny Dillon, Cnuasach Bh aloideas ireann/National Folklore Collection, UCD; Aisling Keane, James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway; Nessa Cronin, Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway; Seathr n Tuairisg, Acadamh na hOllscola ochta Gaeilge, NUI Galway; Nuala Ford and muintir Mhic Giollarn th, Galway; Se n Mainn n Photography, An Cheathr Rua.
NOMENCLATURE
PROPER NAMES
Significant variation can arise in certain proper names and surnames. Within the translated text, the spelling of proper names has generally been normalized in line with the orthographical conventions of An Caighde n Oifigi il (2017), the official standard for writing in Irish, e.g., Diarmuid Diarmaid; M che l Miche l; Pilip Pilib; S amus S amas; Maoilre Maolra; Marcus Marcas; N pla N bla. Bairtle has been normalized as Beairtle. P dhraic and P draig n have been normalized as P draic and P draic n respectively. In general, historical orthography has been used in surnames such as Mac Donnchadha, Domhnaill, Donnchadha, Flaithearta, Geann in, Laidhe. The following normalizations have also been implemented: Curraidhin Curraoin; Grialais Griallais; Mac Con R ogh/Raoi Mac Con R ; N Nia. The surnames Conaola/ Conghaile have been rendered as Conneely.
PLACENAMES
Placenames in Iorras Aithneach and elsewhere within the Gaeltacht are generally given in Irish. Conamara refers to traditionally Irish-speaking areas in Connemara. Established English language versions of placenames are capitalized and given in parentheses following the Irish language version. Generic English language glosses of Irish placenames are not capitalized. A number of these placenames have well-established English forms and are also used in the text, for example, An Cheathr Rua ~ Carraroe; Garmna ~ Gorumna Island. Further information regarding the history and usage of placenames within the text can be found in Gazetteer, which accompanied Tim Robinson s map of Connemara (1990).
READING THIS VOLUME
NUMBERS IN THE TEXT , AS given below, and given in parentheses [e.g., (3)], at the beginning of thematic segments refer to the originator of the lore, as told to Se n Mac Giollarn th. This reference methodology was used by Se n Mac Giollarn th in other publications and is preserved here. Meet the Storytellers provides further information on the individuals below.

1. Miche l Mac Donnchadha, Rois n na Mainiach, Carna
2. P draic Mac Donnchadha (Liam), An Coill n, Carna
3. P draic Mac Con Iomaire, An Coill n, Carna
4. Seosamh Mac Donnchadha, An Aird Thiar, Carna
5. Parthal n Guairim, Leitreach Ard, Carna
6. S amas Conghaile, An Aird, Carna
7. P draic Clochartaigh, Baile na Cille, Gorumna Island
8. Parthal n Mac Donnchadha, An Aird Thiar, Carna
9. Se n Briain, Loch Conaortha, Cill Chiar in
10. Tom s Mac Con Iomaire, An Coill n, Carna
11. Seosamh Mong in, TD, Carna
12. Se n Mac Con R , Leitir Daimh, Roundstone
13. M ire N Dhomhnaill, Caladh an Chnoic, Carna
14. Tom s M ille, Coill Mh olcon
15. Liam Bair ad, An Coill n, Carna
16. M rtan M l id, County Councillor, Carna
17. P draic Mac Donnchadha ( amoinn), An Aird, Carna
18. Isaac Conaire, Seantalamh, Galway
CONAMARA CHRONICLES
TALES FROM IORRAS AITHNEACH
PROLOGUE
Space, Time Connemara
TIM ROBINSON
CONNEMARA - THE NAME DRIFTS ACROSS the mind like cloud shadows on a mountainside, or expands and fades like circles on a lake after a trout has risen. Fittingly, there is no official boundary to the land under the spell of this name. It is also true that real landscapes, unlike painted ones, contain their frames, so that each is potentially world-embracing. But such a name as this cannot be left to dissipate its powers of evocation like a scent unstoppered; the topographer, rather, should delight in its sparing, subtle, and elusive application.
On the one hand, a modern and commercializing tendency is to call everything west of Galway, Connemara. But the territory so defined is best called, in modern Irish, Iar-Chonnacht, for it is that described, with the bitter exactitude of regret, by Roderic O Flaherty s West or H-Iar Connaught , written in 1684, not long after his clan had been dispossessed by the Cromwellians. 1 His book traces its bounds from Lough Corrib to Slyne Head to Killary Harbor (and embraces the Aran Islands as in a sea-parenthesis, to borrow his pleasing phrase). On this classic definition,