Author Description
Tomas O'Crohan was born on the Great Blasket Island in 1865 and died there in 1937, a great master of his native Irish. He shared to the full the perilous life of a primitive community, yet possessed a shrewd and humorous detachment that enabled him to observe and describe the world. His book is a valuable description of a new vanished way of life; his sole purpose in writing it was in his own words, 'to set down the character of the people about me so that some record of us might live after us, for the like of us will never be again'. The Blasket Islands are three miles off Irelands Dingle Peninsula. Until their evacuation just after the Second World War, the lives of the 150 or so Blasket Islanders had remained unchanged for centuries. A rich oral tradition of story-telling, poetry, and folktales kept alive the legends and history of the islands, and has made their literature famous throughout the world. The 7 Blasket Island books published by OUP contain memoirs and reminiscences from within this literary tradition, evoking a way of life which has now vanished.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
The book investigates the preservation of a vanishing cultural identity and the daily realities of a remote, isolated community on the Great Blasket Island. Tomás O'Crohan, a native islander, utilizes his deep immersion in the local oral tradition to document the social structures, hardships, and customs of his people. His primary argument is that the specific way of life on the Blasket Islands is unique and worthy of historical record before the community inevitably dissolves.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Detailed accounts of 19th and early 20th-century island life off the Dingle Peninsula.
- Descriptions of traditional fishing, farming, and community social practices.
- First-hand observations of the oral storytelling tradition and local folklore.
Scope Limits
- The narrative is restricted to the specific cultural and geographical context of the Great Blasket Island.
- It does not provide a comprehensive political history of Ireland during this period.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars and literary critics recognize this work as a foundational text for understanding the unique linguistic and cultural heritage of the Blasket Islands. Readers frequently note the evocative, authentic quality of the prose, which captures a world that has since disappeared from modern history.
Page Count:
250
Publication Date:
1977-01-01
Publisher:
OUP Oxford
ISBN-10:
0191037397
ISBN-13:
9780191037399
Memoir
Biography
History
Irish literature
Folklore
English & College Success
English