Word: gaelic
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MYLES NA GOPALEEN (alias Flann O'Brien, born. Brian Nolan, self-Irished to Brian O'Nolan, Gaelicized by his publishers to Brian O'Nauallain) notes sadly in the foreword to the third edition of An Beal Bocht that few are still interested in preserving Gaelic tales and tradition, as proved by the fact that no one reads his book. Non-Gaelic-speaking Gaeligores (those enthusiastic about Irish language and literature) should be glad An Beal Bocht, first printed in Ireland in 1941, is finally available in an English translation true to the mocking wit of the original...
Adding The Poor Mouth ("edited" by na Gopaleen) to The Best of Myles, it's an open question whether Myles isn't the best of O'Nolan. The Gaelic novel is not only written for and of the Gales, but also purports to be by one-a certain Bonaparte O'Coonassa. But the credit transparently belongs to Myles, the columnist concerned about the so-called preservation of Gaelic Ireland, and the satirist who could mock things Gaelic as he lamented their passing, even making fun of his own concerns. All simultaneously, and in the language of the issue, the "Gaeltacht...
...Poor Mouth defines, explains, satirizes and defends "Gaelic". Pick up the book for the simple pleasures of the story and in the two hours it takes to read it you'll come to abominate the word Gaelic but identify with the essence. Na Gopaleen's wit cuts through the affectations and facile enthusiams of all Gaeligores and gives a glimpse of "the world as seen by the folk in Corkadoragha", a remote "Gaeltacht". Though in the preface to the first edition, "The Editor" cautions that Corkadoragha is "without compare" and not to be taken as representative of the Gaelic community...
...Coonassa relates the story of his life in a succession of hilarious vignettes, beginning with his birth, which took place in a time and place when things "Gaelic" traditionally occur: "the middle of the night in the end of the house." Darkness, and the pigs and people lying in the rushes in the end of the house create the atmosphere of the novel throughout. The pigs, especially, make atmosphere; one chapter describes a near-fatal smothering of the O'Coonassa family due to the smell of the pigs, "and a certain Ambrose, in particular...
...Ginger Man, though essentially comic in tone, possesses a real undercurrent of melancholy, a curious gaelic sentimentality, which always qualifies the humor Dangerfield's existence is stifled; all he wants is "ease and comfort and quiet," but that is denied him throughout his rakish wanderings and loveless manipulations of others. As he becomes more and more desirous of this unfettered contentment, he is increasingly desperate and pressed to make ends meet. Ultimately he begins to see the folly and waste of this pursuit, and is saved from financial desperation by the improbable intercession of a wealthy friend...