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An Bal Bocht
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Wikipedia article
' (The Poor Mouth) is a 1941 novel in Irish by Brian O'Nolan (Flann O'Brien), published under the pseudonym "Myles na gCopaleen". It is widely regarded as one of the greatest Irish-language novels of the 20th century. An English translation by Patrick C. Power appeared in 1973. Stan Gebler Davies wrote: "'The Poor Mouth' is wildly funny, but there is at the same time always a sense of black evil. Only O'Brien's genius, of all the writers I can think of, was capable of that mixture of qualities."Flann O'Brien (1941/1974), 'The Poor Mouth', trans., Patrick C. Power, illus., Ralph Steadman, New York: Viking, back of dust cover, quoting Stan Gebler Davies, 'Evening Standard'.
Background
The book is a kindly parody of the genre of Gaeltacht autobiographies, such as Toms Criomhthain's autobiography (The Islandman), or Peig Sayers' autobiography 'Peig', which recounts her life, especially the latter half, as a series of misfortunes in which much of her family die by disease, drowning or other mishap. Books of this genre were part of the Irish language syllabus in the Irish school system and so were mandatory reading for generations of children from independence in 1921. O'Nolan was in fact a great admirer of 'An t-Oilenach', which is widely regarded as being the greatest work of the genre, but critic Declan Kiberd has noted how O'Nolan's admiration for a writer tended to express itself as parody of the writer's work.
The Irish expression "to put on the poor mouth" is mildly pejorative and refers to the practice, often associated with peasant farmers, of exaggerating the direness of one's situation, particularly financially, to evoke sympathy, charity and perhaps the forbearance of creditors and landlords or generosity of customers. The title may also be a parody of that of the Irish language reader 'An Saol Mr' (The Great Life)Mac Sthigh, T., 'An Saol Mr: Limhleabhar Ghntheolais ar Shaol an Lae Inniu': M.H. Mac an Ghoill agus a Mhac Teo. (in Irish, 'bal' and 'saol' are near-rhymes). The title is, perhaps, more likely to be a parody on 'An Bal Beo' (The Living Tongue) by Tomas Mille, published by An Gm 1936.
One of the recurring figures of speech in the book is the line from Criomhthain's , , "...for our likes will not be (seen) again"; variations of it appear throughout .
All of O'Nolan's other novels were published under the pseudonym 'Flann O'Brien'; it is the only one for which he used the "Myles na gCopaleen" pseudonym that he was then using for his celebrated 'Irish Times' column 'Cruiskeen Lawn'. (Subsequently, O'Nolan altered the newspaper byline slightly to the more anglicised "Myles na Gopaleen".) Neither is a real Irish surname, however. Both derive from a character named Myles-na-Coppaleen in Dion Boucicault's 1860 play 'The Colleen Bawn', which, in turn, comes from the Irish , "of the little horses". As if to confuse matters, the English translation of is published as the work of "Flann O'Brien".
Plot
is set in , (Corkadoragha, Corkadorkey), a remote region of Ireland where it never stops raining and everyone lives in desperate poverty (and always will) while talking in "the learned smooth Gaelic". It is a memoir of one Bnaprt Cnasa (Bonaparte O'Coonassa), a resident of this region, beginning at his very birth. At one point the area is visited by hordes of (Irish language lovers) from Dublin, who explain that not only should one always speak Irish, but also every sentence one utters should be about the language question. However, they eventually abandon the area because the poverty is too impoverished, the cultural authenticity too authentic, and because the dialect of the Irish-language spoken in Corca Dhorcha is far too Irish. The narrator, after a series of bloodcurdling adventures, is eventually imprisoned on a false murder charge, and there, "safe in jail and free from the miseries of life", has the chance to write this most affecting memoir of our times.
Play
An adaptation of by Sean A O'Briain was performed for the first time in the Damer Theatre, Dublin on 31 January 1967 by An Cumann Gaelach from University College Dublin. It was also part of The University Drama Festival in Galway in February 1967. On Wednesday, 26 July 1967 the play opened in The Peacock Theatre, Dublin and was the very first production in the theatre. It ran for only three days and closed abruptly. Due to a disagreement between Brian O'Nualain's widow and the book publishers The Abbey Theatre decided to pull the play.
The book was adapted for stage by Paul Lee and first presented in the pub , Charlemont Street, Dublin, for the Dublin Theatre Festival in 1989, directed by Ronan Smith.
Film and Graphic Novel
Irish filmmaker Tom Collins adapted and directed an animated version of , which was first shown (outside of festivals) on TG4 on Christmas Day 2017 and features the voices of Owen McDonnell and Donncha Crowley. The artwork was done by John McCloskey, whose graphic novel version based on Collins' screenplay was published in 2012 by Cl Mhaigh Eo.
Notes
References
* na gCopaleen, Myles, 'An Bal Bocht', Third Edition, Dolmen Press, Dublin, 1964.
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