Description

Discover the captivating and raw account of life on the Great Blasket Island with Tomás O’Crohan’s “The Islander.” Set off the west coast of Kerry, this autobiography was written as the nineteenth century drew to a close, capturing a small community facing the dawn of a new era.

This paperback edition presents the first complete translation of “An tOileánach,” originally published in 1929. Based on Professor Seán Ó Coileáin’s definitive 2002 Irish language edition, it includes many passages previously omitted from Robin Flower’s 1930s English translation, some of which were considered too earthy for the time.

Tomás O’Crohan, a fisherman who taught himself to read and write in his native tongue around the age of forty, describes in vivid and unaffected language the harsh and unforgiving landscape of human experience on the Blaskets. “The Islander” offers an authentic glimpse into a life that was raw, real, and extremely challenging.

Translated by Garry Bannister and David Sowby (2013), written By Tomas O’Crohan

English – Paperback – 336 pages