Diarmuid Ó Gráinne (1950-2013) RIP
[version in English is below]
Bualadh aos liteartha na hÉireann go dona an tseachtain seo. Ní hamháin gur cailleadh príomhfhile Bhéarla na hÉireann, Seamus Heaney, ach cailleadh beirt údar Gaeilge chomh maith: Maidhc Dainín Ó Sé agus Diarmuid Ó Gráinne. Bhí go leor sna meáin Bhéarla faoin bhfathach filíochta atá ar lár, agus roinnt mhaith faoi Mhaidhc Dainín chomh maith ach ba mhaith le Cois Life ár gcloch bheag féin a chur ar charn Dhiarmuid Uí Ghráinne anseo.
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| (le caoinchead Coiscéim) |
Cainteoir dúchais Gaeilge as Aill an Phréacháin sna Forbacha i gContae na Gaillimhe ba ea Diarmuid Ó Gráinne. I 1950 a rugadh é. D'fhreastail sé ar Choláiste Éinde sa Ghaillimh (1963-68) agus ar Choláiste Phádraig, Droim Conrach (1968-70) áit ar bhuaigh sé Duais Uí Mhaolónaigh sa stair. Is le linn dó bheith ina mhac léinn ansin a spreag Séamus Ó Mórdha, Ollamh le Gaeilge sa Choláiste, i mbun pinn é. Ina dhiaidh sin d'fhreastail Ó Gráinne ar Ollscoil na hÉireann, Baile Átha Cliath (1976-79) le staidéar a dhéanamh ar an stair, ar an bpolaitíocht agus ar an mBéarla.
I measc a chuid leabhar bhí An Dá Mháirtín (Comhar, 1990), saothar léirmheastóireachta ar ghearrscéalta Uí Chadhain. Léirigh an saothar seo an spéis a bhí aige sa tsíceolaíocht. An bhliain dar gcionn foilsíodh úrscéal leis An Tramp (An Clóchomhar 1991), saothar a raibh duairceas áirithe ag roinnt leis. Is mar seo a chuir critic amháin síos ar ábhar an leabhair:
Fear óg is ea an traimp a fhágann Cois Fharraige i lár na 1970í agus a dhéanann aistear trí bliana trí Shasana, trín Fhrainc agus trín Ghearmáin. Tá bliain caite aige ag múineadh i mBaile Átha Cliath, ach is ag sclábhaíocht ar láithreáin tógála, mar oibrí in ospidéal, i bhfíonghort agus i monarcha a chaitheann sé na blianta corraitheacha seo. Mar gheall ar a óige, mar gheall ar an teacht aniar atá sa scéalaí, agus an stíl bheoga lán mionphictiúir agus cuntais ar na carachtair a chastar air, is mó is cosúil le seánra an “scannán bóthair” é ná le seánra dírbheathaisnéis na féintrua. ...
An bhliain chéanna nó an bhliain roimhe bhí na leabhair seo againn ó úrscéalaithe nua eile - The South le Colm Tóibín, Cowboys and Indians le Joseph O’Connor, Surrogate City le Hugo Hamilton, chomh maith leis an úrscéal mór Amongst Women ón scríbhneoir bunaithe John McGahern. An imirce mar théama iontu ar fad, téama nár síleadh a bheadh tráthúil arís blianta beaga ó shin. [Éilís Ní Anluain, The Irish Times 23 Lúnasa 2011]
Úrscéalta dírbheathaisnéisiúla eile ar shlí a bhí in Cloch Scoiltí (Coiscéim, 2002) agus An Drochshúil (Coiscéim, 2009) agus ní rófhada ón seánra céanna a bhí an t-aistriúchán a rinne sé ar L'Étranger le hAlbert Camus a foilsíodh faoin teideal An Strainséara (Coiscéim, 2012). Níorbh ionann an scéal i gcás Muintir na Coille (Coiscéim, 2011) áfach - bhí achar ealaíonta idir Ó Gráinne agus príomhcharachtar an leabhair - toisc gur bean a bhí inti, b'fhéidir. Mheas Darach Ó Scolaí faoin úrscéal seo gurb é 'an t-úrscéal is fearr a suitear i gConamara é o aimsir an Chadhanaigh i leith.'
Bhí an-spéis ag Ó Gráinne riamh sa dírbheathaisnéis mar shéanra scríbhneoireachta agus chuir sé eagar ar dhá leabhar i nóchaidí an chéid seo d'imigh tharainn bunaithe ar ábhar a bhailigh sé ó bheirt sa Ghaeltacht: A Scéal Féin: Máire Phatch Mhóir Uí Churraoin (Coiscéim, 1995) agus Peait Phádraig Tom Ó Conghaile: A Scéal Féin (Coiscéim, 1997). Ar bhealach d'fhéadfaí a áiteamh gur fhaoina dtionchar siúd a thug sé faoin tsraith trí imleabhar Ó Rinn go Sáil 1-3 (Coiscéim, 2010, 2012, 2013), dialanna dírbheathaisnéisiúla ina meascadh cur síos ar shaol na tuaithe agus na feirmeoireachta agus a chuid smaointe polaitíochta agus intleachtúla féin.
Sa chnuasach filíochta Spéir Thoirní (Coiscéim, 1993) chruthaigh sé pictiúr den seansaol don léitheoir agus rianaigh sé a shinsear siar ina áit dhúchais féin. Ba gheall le caoineadh é an leabhar seo, caoineadh ar stair phearsanta an duine, ar an stair áitiúil, ar an óige, agus ar chuimhní an duine ar gach dá dtugann sé grá dó. Ar na cnuasaigh filíochta eile a d'fhoilsigh sé bhí: Spealadh an Drúchta (Coiscéim, 1995) agus Coill Chríon na bhForbacha (Coiscéim, 2001)
Bhí an caitheamh i ndiaidh an ama atá thart ina shaintréith dá chuid scríbhneoireachta. Nuair a foilsíodh a chnuasach gearrscéalta Céard a Dhéanfas Tú Anois (Coiscéim, 1997) thiomnaigh sé do Mháire Mhac an tSaoi é ar an mbonn gurb í a t-aon duine in Éirinn a thuigfeadh é. Cruachás an ealaíontóra agus é an sracadh leis an saol ab ea an téama láir sa chnuasach.
Anuas orthusan ar fad bhí roinnt mhaith leabhar faisnéise, ina measc: Doirse Éalaithe (Coiscéim, 2004), cur síos ar na húdair ba mhó a chuaigh i bhfeidhm air; Fágann Marbh Láthair (Coiscéim, 2006), faoi dhúnmhaithe cáiliúla; An Dorn Iata (Coiscéim, 2007), leabhar faisnéise ar stair na dornálaíochta i gcoitinne agus in Éirinn go háirithe; Cúba agus Castró (Coiscéim, 2009), leabhar faisnéise agus staire. Leabhar eile a léirigh a shainspéis sa pholaitíocht ba ea an t-aistriúchán go Gaeilge a rinne sé ar bhunleabhar Caroline Seaward Karl Marx (Coiscéim 1993). Ar na foilseacháin ba spéisiúla sa réimse seo, b'fhéidir, bhí an dá leabhar a raibh baint aige leo sna nóchaidí luatha: An Cultur agus an Duine (1993) a chuir sé ina eagar le Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, agus An Fhealsúnacht agus an tSíceolaíocht (1992) a chuir Ciarán Ó Coigligh in eagar bunaithe ar shraith léachtaí ilúdair a d'eagraigh Ó Gráinne. Bhí an dá leabhar sin bunaithe ar ócáidí a reáchtáladh thar ceann Chraobh na hÉigse de Chonradh na Gaeilge. Coiscéim a d'fhoilsigh.
Le tamall de bhlianta anuas bhí Ó Gráinne ag feirmeoireacht i gCo. Ros Comáin fad a lean sé ag scríobh. D'fhoilsigh Coiscéim úrscéal eile leis i mí Iúil 2013, Aois na nIontas.
Diarmuid Ó Gráinne (1950-2013) - Requiescat in Pace
Diarmuid
Ó Grainne, born in 1950 was a native
Irish speaker from the Aill an Phréacháin in Na Forbacha, Co. Galway.
He attended Coláiste Éinde in Galway (1963-68)
and St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra (1968-70) where he won Duais Uí
Mhaolónaigh in history. During his time as a student there he was encourages by
Séamus Ó Mórdha, Professor of Irish in the college, to start writing. Later Ó
Gráinne attended the National University
of Ireland, Dublin
(1976-79) and studied history, politics and English.
Among his books were An Dá Mháirtín
(Comhar, 1990), a work of criticism on the short stories of Máirtín Ó Cadhain. This work showed Ó
Gráinne’s belief in the importance of psychological insight in criticim. A
novel was published the following year An
Tramp (An Clóchomhar, 1991), a dark, haunted work. One critic described it
in the following terms:
An Tramp [‘the
tramp’] is a young man who leaves Cois Fharraige in the mid-1970s and travels
through England, France and Germany. He has spent a year
teaching in Dublin
and here we find him spending some turbulent years slaving away on construction
sites, as a hospital porter, as a labourer in a vineyard and in various factories.
Because of his youth, because of the resilience of the narrator, and the
vibrant style, full of carefully wrought images and accounts of the characters
encountered, the novel resembles a ‘road movie’ rather than one of those
self-pitying autobiographies…
In the same year that An Tramp was published we also had these books from other
(then-)emerging novelists - The South by Colm Tóibín, Cowboys and Indians by
Joseph O'Connor, Hugo Hamilton’s Surrogate City, as well as a great novel from the venerable John McGahern Amongst Women. All
of these exploring the theme of emigration, a theme no one envisaged would ever
become relevant again.[translated from: Éilís Ní Anluain, The Irish Times, 23
August 2011]
Other novels by Ó Grainne which
were in part autobiographical were Cloch Scoiltí (Coiscéim, 2002) and An
Drochshúil (Coiscéim, 2002) and not very far away in terms of genre was Ó
Gráinne’s translation of L' Étranger by Albert Camus, published under the title
An Strainséara (Coiscéim, 2012). Muintir na Coille (Coiscéim,
2011), however, though also in the autobiographical novel genre, differed in
that it displayed an interesting detachment, a greater artistic distance
between Ó Grainne and the main character – helped, possibly, by the fact that
it was a woman. Darach Ó Scolaí considered Muintir na Coille 'the finest
novel set in Connemara since Ó Cadhain'.
Ó Gráinne was deeply interested in
autobiography as a genre and edited two books in the 1990s based on material he
collected from individuals in the Gaeltacht: A Scéal Féin:
Máire Phatch Mhóir Uí Churraoin (Coiscéim, 1995) and Peait Phádraig
Tom Ó Conghaile: A Scéal Féin (Coiscéim, 1997). It could be argued that
these were the inspiration for the three volumes Ó Rinn go Sáil 1-3
(Coiscéim, 2010, 2012, 2013), a series of autobiographical diaries which
blended country and farming life with Ó Gráinne’s political and intellectual
ideas.
In the poetry collection Spéir Thoirní (Coiscéim, 1993) Ó Gráinne
summoned up a picture of past times and traced his ancestry back in his native
place. The book was an elegy to individual personal history, to local history,
to lost youth, to the memory of everything Ó Grainne held fond. Among his
other poetry collections were: Spealadh an Drúchta (Coiscéim, 1995) and Coill
Chríon na bhForbacha (Coiscéim, 2001).
The search for times past or remembrance of lost time was a hallmark of Ó
Gráinne’s writing. When he published the collection of short stories Céard
a Dhéanfas Tú Anois (Coiscéim, 1997) in which the challenge and struggle of the artist was the central theme,
he dedicated the books to Máire Mhac an tSaoi stating that she was the only
person in Ireland who would understand it.
Along with these various publications were informational books, including Doirse
Éalaithe (Coiscéim, 2004), in which Ó Grainne discussed the writers by whom
he had been influenced; Fágann Marbh Láthair (Coiscéim, 2006),
about famous murders; An Dorn Iata (Coiscéim, 2007), which documented
the history of boxing both in Ireland
and internationally; and a history of Cúba agus Castró (Coiscéim, 2009).
Another work which illustrated his deep interest in politics was his
translation of Caroline Seaward’s Karl Marx (Coiscéim 1993).
Perhaps the most interesting of these documentary-style books were the two
books with which Ó Gráinne was involved in the early 1990s and which explored
aspects of cultural identity at the level of the the individual and society: An
Cultur agus an Duine (1993) which he edited with Professor Dáithí Ó hÓgáin,
and An Fhealsúnacht agus an tSíceolaíocht (1992) which Ciarán Ó
Coigligh edited and which was based on a series of lecture organized by Ó
Grainne. Both these works derived from events organised on behalf of
Chraobh na hÉigse of Conradh na Gaeilge and were published by Coiscéim.
In recent years Ó Gráinne had been farming in Co. Roscommon while
continuing to write. Coiscéim published another novel in July 2013, Aois na
nIontas. Diarmuid Ó Gráinne passed away 28 Lúnasa 2013.
