Road to Brightcity

by Mairtin O'Cadhain, Eoghan Ó Tuairisc (Translator)

English (translation)

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Irish Literature

111 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

These heart-stopping stories, evidently now long out of print, are set in the wilds of the west of Ireland early in the 20th century. The author published these in Irish Gaelic in the 1940s; they were not translated into English until 1981. A must-read of Irish literature.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sought this out because I was utterly captivated by Ó Cadhain's story "The Hare-Lip" in the Oxford Book of Irish Short stories (William Trevor editor). Ó Cadhain is also the author of the astonishing novel Cré na Cille, translated either as Graveyard Clay or the Dirty Dust. He wrote in Irish but his stories are beautifully translated by Eoghan Ó Tuairisc (even without speaking Irish, you can tell from the prose that the translation is unusually graceful).
The stories collected here are less experimental in format than Cré na Cille, but I would argue that Ó Cadhain's willingness to plumb the wild depths of human nature ventures outside the realm of conventional fiction. The focus of this collection is on the lives of 20th century country people in Ireland's gorgeous but impoverished West. He often writes from the perspective of women and he does so with great insight and empathy. The diaspora is deeply present here-- many stories focus on the experience of emigrants, their families, and two stories follow the experience of Mairead, a young woman who goes to America and returns for her sweetheart after ten years. Ó Cadhain excels at depicting the difference between what people say to each other and what they actually believe-- all the nuances that can be difficult to address, let alone analyze, either in life or art. Road to Brightcity is not only an ambitious collection, but a precious record of a way of life that may have vanished from contemporary Ireland but still casts a huge influence.

[CAG_1337 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a number of Irish short story authors that focus on rural Ireland (e.g, O'Flaherty, McLaverty, etc.), and absolutely none approach the genius of Ó Cadhain. Very few of his works have been translated into English. I believe only this story collection, another story collection called Dhá Scéal (Two Stories), and a novel, Cré na Cille, have been translated so far. This is a shame. His short stories deserve to be more widely read and known outside of Ireland. Had I not stumbled across a copy of Dhá Scéal at a thrift store by accident, I doubt I ever would have heard of him and I would have missed out on some truly wonderful writing.

[Michael Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Joyce? Who?