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An cineál litríochta a theastaíonn uaimse don Ghaeilge - The kind of Irish literature I want

Last update - Monday, August 15, 2011, 19:32 By Metro Éireann

Bhí mé díreach ag brabhsáil leathanaigh ghréasáin an tsiopa leabhair Litriocht.com le súil is go dtiocfainn ar nua-fhoilseachán suimiúil éigin. Ansin, áfach, fuair mé radharc ar na focail ”úrscéal turgnamhach”, agus bhí an lá curtha ó mhaith orm mar sin. Nó is é mo thuairim gurb é sin an cineál litríochta is lú a theastaíonn uainn, más mian linn an Ghaeilge a chur ar ais i mbéal an phobail nó, ar a laghad, a chur ar chumas na ndaoine cultúr na Gaeilge a mheas mar is cóir.

Le cead don té ar maith leis úrscéalta turgnamhacha a léamh, caithfidh mé a rá nach bhfuil mórán measa agam ar an earra sin i nGaeilge. Nuair a fheicim na focail “urscéal turgnamhach Gaeilge” i bprionta, is é an chéad léamh is dual dom a bhaint astu ná ”raitréachta leadránach le scríbhneoir Galltachta agus é ag céasadh na teanga lena chuid turgnamhachais le nach n-aithneofaí nach bhfuil sí ach go lagmheasartha aige”. Ar ndóigh, scríobh cainteoirí dúchais úrscéalta turgnamh-acha freisin, ach bhí fios a ngnó agus a dteanga acu, ar a laghad.
Is é an rud is mó a chuireann as dom i scríbhneoireacht den chineál seo ná an beagán urraime a thugann sí do sheanchaint na Gaeltachta. Bíonn an chomhréir – an dóigh a mbraitheann na focail ar a chéile agus an dul atá ar an gcaint – curtha ar strae faoi anáil an Bhéarla, San am chéanna, bíonn an scríbhneoir ag dul i muinín focail sheanársa ó na laethanta roimh thonnbhriseadh an tseanghnáthaimh, focail nach dtuigfeá gan an leagan iomlán d’fhoclóir Uí Dhónaill a cheadú.
Pé scéal é, is é an rud a thugann an scríbhneoir le fios, agus an cineál stil a chleachtann sé, ná nach bhfuil teanga na Gaeltachta - teanga na gcainteoirí dúchais - sách maith aige. Ós é an dearcadh céanna a chuir muintir na hÉireann ag malartú teanga an chéad uair, is cóir an cheist a chur, cén fáth a mbacann scríbhneoir den chineál sin leis an nGaeilge ar aon nós.
Nuair a chuaigh mé chun pinn an chéad uair le lón léitheoireachta a sholáthar trí mheán na Gaeilge, ní raibh i gceist agam na daoine a chrá le h-”úrscéal turgnamhach” eile, Dia idir mise agus an t-olc. Scríobh mé úrscéal do dhaoine óga faoin gcineál saoil a bhí agam in oirthear na Fionlainne nuair a bhí mé féin i mo dhéagóir. Ar ndóigh, tharraing mé chugam fadhbanna idirnáisiúnta comhaimseartha: an ciníochas agus an bhulaíocht scoile. An bheirt dhaoine óga a thit i ngrá le chéile i rith an scéil (tá scéal grá amháin ar a laghad géar-riachtanach i ngach úrscéal do dhéagóirí), is cailín gorm a huchtaíodh ón mBrasaíl duine acu agus is buachaill óg a bhfuil a shaol curtha ó mhaith air ag lucht a bhulaíochta é an duine eile. Mar a dúirt mé, bhí mianach scéil ann a gcuirfeadh lucht ár linne féin suim ann. Agus an cineál teanga a chleacht mé ag breacadh síos an scéil dom, ba é an cineál teanga a d’fhoghlaim mé trí staidéar a dhéanamh ar Ghaeilge na scríbhneoirí is na seanchaithe Gaeltachta.
Sin é an cineál litríocht atá mé ag brath a scríobh sa teanga feasta freisin, agus sin é an cineál litríocht a theastódh uaim: litríocht réasúnta éadrom, is é sin, leabhair is féidir a léamh mar lón léitheoireachta, leabhair a bhfuil scéalaíocht tharraingteach iontu, agus san am chéanna, litríocht a chardálann téamaí tromchúiseacha tábhachtacha a linne, agus litríocht a tharraingíonn ar thobar na Gaeltachta, na scríbhneoirí Gaeltachta agus an bhéaloidis Ghaeltachta mar chaighdeán don stíl mhaith shaibhir.

Tá Panu Höglund scríbhneoir Fionlannach ar líne agus aistritheoir



When I was browsing the web pages of the online bookshop Litriocht.com, hopeful of happening upon an interesting new publication, I saw the words “experimental novel”, and that destroyed the day for me. It is my opinion that this is the kind of literature that we need about as badly as a fish needs a bicycle, if we really want to make Irish a living community language again, or at the very least teach people enough of the language to be able to assess Irish-language culture fairly.
With all due respect to whoever does enjoy reading experimental novels, I must say I don’t particularly like that sort of writing in Irish. When I see the words “experimental novel in Irish”, I tend to understand them as “a terrible bore of a book by a non-native speaker who can’t write the language particularly well and masks his bad grammar and clumsy style by calling it ‘experimentalism’.” Of course, there have been native speakers writing experimental novels, but they did really speak the language, and they knew what they were doing.
What I like the least about this kind of writing is the condescending attitude towards the old speech of Gaeltacht, of the native speakers. Syntax – the way words depend upon each other and follow each other in a particular order – seems usually to have been led entirely astray by English influence. At the same time, the writer typically employs old-fashioned words from classical Irish as written before the 17th century, words no living man or woman would understand without consulting the unabridged version of Niall Ó Dónaill’s big dictionary.
Anyway, the message such a writer conveys with his style is that he sees himself as too big a poobah to bother with the language of the real native speakers at all. As this is the very attitude that made the people of Ireland abandon their native language to start with, one might feel justified to wonder why such a writer takes the trouble of writing in Irish at all.
When I first started to write in Irish in order to produce something readable, I definitely didn’t want to torment readers with another ”experimental novel”, God forbid. I wrote a novel for young people about the kind of life I had in eastern Finland when I was a teenage boy myself. Of course, I wrote about contemporary problems found in every country: racism and school bullying. The two young people who fell in love in the course of the story (every novel for teenage readers definitely needs a love story) are a black girl adopted from Brazil and a local boy whose life has been wrecked by his tormentors at school. As I said: a story that moves contemporary readers. And the kind of language I used was what I had learnt by studying the Irish of the native writers and storytellers.
That is the kind of literature I am going to write in the language from now on, too, and that is the kind of literature I’d want to see written in Irish: literature that isn’t too difficult or heavy, literature you can read for enjoyment, books with interesting and attractive stories to tell, but at the same time literature that is not afraid to deal with contemporary, earnest and important themes, and literature that still takes into account what is good, rich Irish in the Gaeltacht way and keeps in touch with the literature and folklore of native speakers.

Panu Höglund is a Finnish online writer and translator


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