Author Biography
Patrick Pearse (1879-1916) is chiefly remembered as a political activist, executed for his leading role in the Easter Rising of 1916, but he was also a qualified barrister, teacher, and versatile writer. As well as stories, he published articles on a variety of cultural topics, plays, poetry, and political pamphlets right up until the time of his death. Joseph Campbell (1879-1944) published a number of well-received volumes of poetry, before increasing involvement in republican activities led to his internment after the War of Independence. Following his release, he moved to America but returned to Ireland for the final years of his life. Anne Markey is a Long Room Hub Postdoctoral Fellow at Trinity College Dublin.
Description
Translated from Irish by Joseph Campbell, Patrick Pearse's ten stories were first published between 1905 and 1916. Groundbreaking in Pearse's recourse to modern narrative techniques and his use of vernacular Irish, these stories provide a sympathetic portrayal of life in Connemara. Joseph Campbell translated them into English in the aftermath of the 1916 "Rising". His translations capture the spirit and tone of the original stories, largely because they are written in a distinctive form of Hiberno-Irish that reflects Pearse's use of colloquial speech.
"University College Dublin Press has now published over thirty ‘Classics of Irish History'. These contemporary accounts by well known personalities of historical events and attitudes have an immediacy that conventional histories do not have. Introductions by modern historians provide additional historical background and, with hindsight, objectivity."
Books Ireland
Nov 2007
"Scholars of nineteenth-century Irish and Irish-American politics should reacquaint themselves with these classics, part of a long running and immensely useful series from University College Dublin Press."
Irish Literary Supplement
Fall 2008
"After some years of being seen as a controversial figure and his reputation suffering at the hands of revisionists, there seems to be a rehabilitation of Pearse with more recent studies not only placing him in the context of the times in which he lived but examining all aspects of his life. Before he became a leader of the 1916 Rising he was a successful barrister and pioneering educationalist, for example. Pearse was also a poet, writer and champion of the Irish language. The ten stories here were written in Irish between 1905 and 1916. They were significant at the time for the sympathetic portrayal of life in Conamara, the adaption of the short-story form to the Irish language, and the use of vernacular speech. These stories combine elements of traditional storytelling with a more urbane approach. There were sympathetically translated into English after 1916 by Joseph Campbell, himself a poet and Republican activist. UCD has reprinted Campbell's translation as part of its Classic of Irish History series in its now familiar smart compact paperback format."
Books Ireland
April 2009
"the superb and lengthy introduction by Ann Markey (a Long Room Hub Postdoctoral Fellow at Trinity College Dublin) is a marvellous analysis of the mind of Pearse and his fierce attachment to his beloved Rosmuc and the Connemara people. For anyone interested in entering into the world of Pearse and Connemara at the beginning of the twentieth century these stories are absolutely fascinating. For the language enthusiasts this translation will provide material for study and perhaps controversy."
Martin Tierney
The Irish Catholic
April 9, 2009
"That Pearse’s two collections of stories in Irish, Iosagan and Other Stories (1907) and The Mother and Other Stories (1916), are now brought together under the worthy 'Classics of Irish History' banner is itself a crucial judgement about the literary value of this contentious figure … Markey’s lucid introduction is especially good in discussing Pearse’s unities of theme, characterisation and setting, and his nevertheless considerable development between his two collections."
John Kenny
Irish Times
2 May 2009
'The editor’s introduction is richly informative; the commentary on the text and notes on the geography of the stories are useful.'
The Endless Bookshelf
January 2010
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