Dónall Mac Amhlaigh - a Working Class Writer in Irish

Authors

• Panu Petteri Höglund Åbo Akademi, Tyska insten

Keywords:

Ireland, Irish literature, Irish language, Connemara, Kilkenny, post-war boom, Gaelic, Gaelic language, Gaelic literature, Dialann Deoraí, Schnitzer Ó Sé, Beoir Bhaile, Deoraithe

Abstract

It is commonly suggested that modern literature Irish is little concerned with urban and industrial settings. This article takes a look at Dónall Mac Amhlaigh, an Irish-language author who emigrated to the United Kingdom and wrote about his working life as a "navvy", a construction and an industrial worker, and in many other kinds of jobs in the nineteen fifties. He is a keen observer of social circumstances, but shows little political commitment.