Máirtín Ó Cadhain | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 20 January 1906 Spiddal,County Galway, Ireland |
| Died | 18 October 1970(1970-10-18) (aged 64) Dublin, Ireland |
| Resting place | Mount Jerome Cemetery |
| Pen name | Aonghus Óg Breallianmaitharsatuanógcadhanmaolpote D. Ó Gallchobhair Do na Fíréin Micil Ó Moingmheara M.Ó.C[1] |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, journalist, school teacher |
| Language | Irish (Connacht Irish) |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Period | 1932–1970 |
| Genre | Fiction, politics, linguistics, experimental prose |
| Subject | Irish Republicanism, modern Irish prose |
| Literary movement | Modernism, social radicalism |
| Notable works | Cré na Cille An Braon Broghach Athnuachan |
| Spouse | Máirín Ní Rodaigh |
| Relatives | Seán Ó Cadhain (father) Bríd Nic Conaola[2] (mother) |
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Máirtín Ó Cadhain (Irish pronunciation:[ˈmˠaːɾˠtʲiːnʲoːˈkəinʲ]; 20 January 1906 – 18 October 1970) was one of the most prominentIrish language writers of the twentieth century. Perhaps best known for his 1949 novelCré na Cille, Ó Cadhain played a key role in reintroducingliterary modernism intomodern literature in Irish, where it had been dormant since the 1916 execution ofPatrick Pearse. Politically, Ó Cadhain was anIrish republican andanti-clericalMarxist, who promoted theAthghabháil na hÉireann ("Re-Conquest of Ireland"), (meaning bothdecolonization and re-Gaelicisation). Ó Cadhain was also a member of the post-Civil WarIrish Republican Army and was interned by theIrish Army in theCurragh Camp withBrendan Behan and many other IRA members duringthe Emergency.
Born inConnemara, he became a schoolteacher but was dismissed due to hisIrish Republican Army (IRA) membership. In the 1930s, he served as an IRA recruiting officer, enlisting fellow writerBrendan Behan.[3] During this period, he also participated in the land campaign of native speakers, which led to the establishment of theRáth Cairn neo-Gaeltacht inCounty Meath. Subsequently, he was arrested and interned duringthe Emergency (the second world war period in Ireland) on theCurragh Camp inCounty Kildare, due to his continued involvement in the IRA.[4]
Ó Cadhain's politics wereIrish republicanism mixed withMarxism andradical politics, and then tempered with a rhetoricalanti-clericalism. In his writings, however, concerning the revival of theIrish language, Ó Cadhain was very practical about theCatholic Church in Ireland but demanded commitment to thelanguage revival fromRoman Catholic priests. It was his view that, as the Church was there anyway, it would be better if the clergy were more willing to address their faithful in the Irish language.
As a writer, Ó Cadhain is acknowledged to be a major part of the revival ofmodernist literature in the Irish, where it had been largely dormant since the execution ofPatrick Pearse in 1916. Ó Cadhain created aliterary language for his writing out of theConamara Theas andCois Fharraige dialects ofConnacht Irish, but he was often accused of an unnecessarily dialectal usage ingrammar andorthography even in contexts where a realistic depiction of theConnemaravernacular wasn't called for. He was also happy to experiment with borrowings from other dialects,Classical Irish and evenScottish Gaelic. Consequently, much of what Ó Cadhain wrote is, like the poetry of fellowlinguistic experimentalist Liam S. Gógan, reputedly very hard to understand for a non-native speaker.
He was a prolific writer of short stories. His collections of short stories includeCois Caoláire,An Braon Broghach,Idir Shúgradh agus Dháiríre,An tSraith Dhá Tógáil,An tSraith Tógtha andAn tSraith ar Lár. He also wrote three novels, of which onlyCré na Cille was published during his lifetime. The other two,Athnuachan andBarbed Wire, appeared in print only recently. He translatedCharles Kickham's novelSally Kavanagh into Irish asSaile Chaomhánach, nó na hUaigheanna Folmha. He also wrote several political orlinguo-political pamphlets. His political views can most easily be discerned in a small book about the development ofIrish nationalism andradicalism[5] sinceTheobald Wolfe Tone,Tone Inné agus Inniu; and in the beginning of the sixties, he wrote – partly in Irish, partly in English – a comprehensive survey of thesocial status and actual use of the language in the west of Ireland, published asAn Ghaeilge Bheo –Destined to Pass. In August 1969, he delivered a speech (published asGluaiseacht na Gaeilge: Gluaiseacht ar Strae) in which he spoke of the role Irish speakers should take in 'athghabháil na hÉireann', or the 'reconquest of Ireland' asJames Connolly first coined the term.
He andDiarmaid Ó Súilleabháin were considered the two most innovative Irish language authors to emerge in the 1960s.[6] Ó Cadhain had frequent difficulties getting his work edited, but unpublished writings have appeared at least every two years since the publication ofAthnuachan in the mid-nineties.
In 1956, aged 50 years of age, he was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Irish inTrinity College Dublin despite not having a degree or other typical academic credentials. He was appointed associate professor of Irish and Head of department fourteen years later in 1969. In 1970 he was appointed as Chair (full professor) and was made afellow of the university before his death that same year.[7]
A lecture hall in Trinity College Dublin is named after Ó Cadhain.[8] There is also a bronze bust of him in the Irish department of the university.
Ó Cadhain's interest inIrish republicanism grew after he started readingAn Phoblacht, a republican newspaper with strong links to theIrish Republican Army that publishes articles in both English and Irish. While living inCamus,County Galway (an Irish-speakingGaeltacht village) he resided with Seosamh Mac Mathúna, who had been a member of the IRA since 1918. His time with Mac Mathúna further brought him down the path of republicanism and eventually, Mac Mathúna brought Ó Cadhain into the IRA.[9] As a member, he championed a Marxist analysis of Ireland and was a particular advocate forAthghabháil na hÉireann (English: "The Reconquest of Ireland"), a concept ofJames Connolly's that suggests the Irish language could only be saved by socialism, as the English language is a tool of the capitalists.[10][11]
In 1932, Ó Cadhain along with Mac Mathúna and Críostóir Mac Aonghusa (a local teacher, activist and county councillor) foundedCumann na Gaedhealtachta (The Gaeltacht Association), a pressure group to lobby on behalf of those living in Ireland's Gaeltacht areas. He formed a similar group in 1936 calledMuinntir na Gaedhealtachta (the Gaeltacht People). One of the successes of these groups was the establishment of theRáth Chairn Gaeltacht, in which a new Irish-speaking community was created inCounty Meath. Ó Cadhain had argued the only way by which Irish language speakers could thrive was if efforts to promote the language were coupled with giving Irish speakers good land to work, so as to give them an opportunity at economic success as well.[9]
By 1936, Ó Cadhain had been working as a school teacher inCarnmore,County Galway for four years, when he was dismissed from his post by theRoman CatholicBishop of Galway for his republican beliefs, which were deemed to be "subversive". He had recently attended a commemoration inBodenstown to honour his idolWolfe Tone, which had been banned by the government. He subsequently moved to Dublin, where he acted as a recruiter for the IRA, at which he was quite successful. In April 1938, he was appointed to the IRA's Army Council and became their secretary. By 1939, he was "on the run" from the Irish authorities and by September of the year had been arrested and imprisoned until December. Ó Cadhain's stint with the Army Council was short-lived however; he resigned in protest of theS-Plan, a sabotage campaign against the British state during the second world war, on the grounds that any attempt to "liberate" Northern Ireland politically was meaningless unless the people were also "economically liberated".[10]
In 1940, he gave an oration at the funeral of his friend Tony Darcy, who had died on hunger strike inMountjoy Prison seeking political prisoner status. Following the funeral he was once again arrested and imprisoned, this time to spend four years with hundreds of other IRA members in theCurragh. Ó Cadhain's friendTomás Bairéad campaigned for his release and they found success on 26 July 1944 when Ó Cadhain was allowed to leave. During Ó Cadhain's time in the Curragh, he taught many of the other prisoners the Irish language.[9][12]
Following his time in the Curragh, Ó Cadhain pulled back from politics to focus on his writing. For a long period he became bitter about Irish republicanism, but by the 1960s once again identified with its outlook. At the onset ofthe Troubles in Northern Ireland, he welcomed resistance to British rule as well as the idea of an armed struggle, and once again stated his Marxist outlook on the situation; "capitalism must go as well as the Border".
During the 1960s, he once again threw himself into campaigning on behalf of the Irish language, this time with the groupMisneach ("Courage"). The group resisted efforts by reform groups to no longer make it compulsory for a student to pass an Irish examination to receive aLeaving Certificate, as well as a requirement that those seeking employment in the public sector needed to be able to speak Irish.Misneach used civil disobedience tactics influenced bySaunders Lewis, the Welsh language advocate and founder ofPlaid Cymru.[9]
Ó Cadhain was a key figure in the 1969 civil rights movement,Gluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta.
He died on 18 October 1970 in Dublin and was buried inMount Jerome Cemetery.
By now Ó'Cadhain was a committed Marxist. For him, the decline of the Irish language and the utter neglect of Gaeltacht communities by the Irish Free State was a class issue. The language could only be restored through the 'Re-conquest of Ireland'. Ó Cadhain began to encourage Irish speakers across the country to adopt socialism as the only viable method to save both the language and the struggling Gaeltacht communities.
