ISLAND STORY: THE IRISH‑LANGUAGE WRITING OF LIAM AND THOMAS O’FLAHERTY

Gearóid DENVIR

Authors

Gearóid DENVIR Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway

Abstract

Liam O’Flaherty is celebrated internationally as a novelist and short story writer who produced most of his work in English, yet published the iconic Irish‑language collection Dúil (Desire) in 1953. His nephew, the writer and journalist Breandán Ó hEithir, records that it was this book that gave Liam the greatest satisfaction (1977, 76). Although some Irish‑language writers and activists resented O’Flaherty’s choice to write largely in English (O’Leary 2004, 436–38), discerning early critics paid close attention to his Irish‑language short fiction. The story “Bás na Bó” (“The Cow’s Death”) appeared in the Gaelic League journal Fáinne an Lae in July 1925, where the paper’s writer‑editor, Pádhraic Ó Domhnalláin, introduced it thus: “Muna bhfuil dul amudha mór orainn atá sgríobhnóir úr againn a ardóchas an Ghaedhilg go hard i gcúrsaí litridheachta. Dánaidhe é, go barra a mhéar, dar linn.”

Author Biography

Gearóid DENVIR, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway

Gearóid Denvir was born in Dublin, Ireland, on October 30, 1950. After completing his primary and secondary education there, he pursued higher studies at University College Dublin (UCD). In 1973, he co-founded Coláiste Chamuis in the Connemara Gaeltacht alongside his future wife, Máire, whom he married in 1976. Denvir earned his PhD from the National University of Ireland in 1987 under the supervision of Professor Seán Ó Tuama. His academic career at the University of Galway (formerly UCG) began in 1977 when he joined the Department of Irish Language and Literature as a Junior Lecturer. Over nearly four decades, he also taught as a visiting lecturer at Hamburg University, UCD, Boston College, and the University of Toronto, eventually retiring from full-time duties in 2014 as the Established Professor of Modern Irish (Nua-Ghaeilge). A prolific scholar and creative voice, Denvir has published academic articles in Irish, English, and French. His major publications include Aistí Phádraic Uí Chonaire (1978), Cadhan Aonair (1987), An Dúil is Dual (1991), Amhráin Choilm de Bhailís (1996), Litríocht agus Pobal (1997), and Sé an Saol an Máistir (2010). He is also a poet, having published the collections Iomramh Aigne (1976) and Trudaireacht (1983). As an editor, his work spans the twentieth-century poetry anthology Duanaire an Chéid to the recent publication of Pádraig Ó Miléadha's Trí Glúine Gael. He is a former Chairperson of Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe, the national Irish-language theatre, and has served two terms as President of Oireachtas na Gaeilge (2020 and 2021). Email: gearoid.denvir@nuigalway.ie

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