[defrost]

mar ná beidh ár leithéidí arís ann

  An Béal Bocht (The Poor Mouth) is a 1941 novel in Irish by Brian O'Nolan (better known by his pen name Flann O'Brien), published under the pseudonym "Myles na gCopaleen". 

~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_B%C3%A9al_Bocht

  set in Corca Dhorcha, a remote region of Western Ireland where it never stops raining, everyone lives in desperate poverty (and always will), while also talking in "the learned smooth Gaelic".

  It is a memoir of one Bónapárt Ó Cúnasa (Bonaparte O'Coonassa), a resident of this region, beginning at his very birth.

  At one point the area is visited by hordes of Gaeilgeoirí (Irish language lovers) from Dublin, who explain that not only should one always speak Irish, but also every sentence one utters in Irish should be about the language question.

  However, they eventually abandon the area because the poverty is too impoverished, the cultural authenticity is too culturally authentic, and because the dialect of the Irish-language spoken in Corca Dhorcha is far too Irish.

How does the language sound then?

example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNFfDirBE6w with transcript and translation: https://songsinirish.com/?song=i-wanna-fight-your-father-lyr...

[gilleain]

Hah, that video was ... unexpected to say the least.

I love Brian O'Nolan/Flann O'Brian - particularly the Third Policeman. I should read The Poor Mouth.

Wonder if there are Scottish Gaelic bands like The Rubberbandits. I like Clannadonia, but they are 'just' a piper/drummer band.

[piltdownman]

Flann O'Brian can't be celebrated enough - 'At Swim-Two-Birds' is up there with Ulysses in terms of the great works of English language literature.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/08/100-best-novel...

In terms of the cultural resurgeance of Irish, whilst the Rubberbandits have done their part, its nothing compared to the full-on assault on cultural consciousness the politically divisive rap-group 'Kneecap' have performed - although they're about to be cancelled by the pro-Zionist lobby in the US.

https://www.screenireland.ie/news/kneecap-becomes-first-iris...

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kneecap

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFYfp-hKxZQ

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/23/sharon-osbourn...

[fullofbees]

There's an animated version of the graphic novel of An Béal Bocht that I haven't had a chance to watch yet but have had highly recommended to me.

I did find the description kinda funny though "An animated adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s only novel written in Irish under the pseudonym of Myles Na gCopaleen. It is a biting satire of the life story of a young Gael reflecting on his life from Sligo Gaol." - as if Flann wasn't also a pseudonym, but I suppose he never wrote much under the name Brian.

(Entirely unrelated, I saw the German adaptation of ASTB as a teenager and it was fascinating. Not necessarily good, but out there)

[defrost]

Cheers for the link and the notes.

FWiW he was a prolific writer all his life, as a pre computer civil servent he would have written at length all through many of his days at work .. the rules of the day demanded he be circumspect in regard to public opinion:

  Given the desperate poverty of Ireland in the 1930s to 1960s, a job as a civil servant was considered prestigious, being both secure and pensionable with a reliable cash income in a largely agrarian economy.

  The Irish civil service has been, since the Irish Civil War, fairly strictly apolitical.
  Civil Service Regulations and the service's internal culture generally prohibit Civil Servants above the level of Clerical Officer from publicly expressing political views.

  As a practical matter, this meant that writing in newspapers on current events was, during O'Brien's career, generally prohibited without departmental permission which would be granted on an article-by-article, publication-by-publication basis.

  This fact alone contributed to O'Brien's use of pseudonyms, though he had started to create character authors even in his pre-civil service writings.

~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flann_O'Brien

He had an extended family to support after all.

[fullofbees]

I meant to actually link to the animated version rather than just say it exists...! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s67fNIn5ZsQ

[adrian_b]

> How does the language sound then?

Whenever I hear about Scottish Gaelic, I remember a moment of my childhood, when I have seen some Scottish singer performing "Màiri Bhàn" in Gaelic, and I have liked that song very much, including its lyrics, despite the fact that the Gaelic lyrics were unintelligible for me.

Searching for "Màiri Bhàn" will find many examples of how Scottish Gaelic sounds, for instance this is a good one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhce99y_a_A