- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (15 Jun 1992)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140184325
- ISBN-13: 978-0140184327
- Product Dimensions: 19 x 12.7 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 390,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Aran Islands [with Biographical Introduction]
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Product Description
Product Description
In 1907 J. M. Synge achieved both notoriety and lasting fame with The Playboy of the Western World. The Aran Islands, published in the same year, records his visits to the islands in 1898-1901, when he was gathering the folklore and anecdotes out of which he forged The Playboy and his other major dramas.
Yet this book is much more than a stage in the evolution of Synge the dramatist. As Tim Robinson explains in his introduction, "If Ireland is intriguing as being an island off the west of Europe, then Aran, as an island off the west of Ireland, is still more so; it is Ireland raised to the power of two." Towards the end of the last century Irish nationalists came to identify the area as the country's uncorrupted heart, the repository of its ancient language, culture and spiritual values. It was for these reasons that Yeats suggested Synge visit the islands to record their way of life. The result is a passionate exploration of a triangle of contradictory relationships – between an island community still embedded in its ancestral ways but solicited by modernism, a physical environment of ascetic loveliness and savagely unpredictable moods, and Synge himself, formed by modern European thought but in love with the primitive.
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The geography of the Aran Islands is very simple, yet it may need a word to itself. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The geography of the Aran Islands is very simple, yet it may need a word to itself. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
John Millington Synge was well qualified to write a book about the customs and folklore of the people who inhabited the wild and windswept Aran Islands, situated off the west coast of Ireland. After suffering a bout of severe illness from Hodgkin's disease, which was to cause his early death in 1909, he went to the Aran Islands in 1898 and spent five summers collecting stories, folklore and perfecting his Gaelic. The Aran's were still a stronghold for the rich native Irish Gaelic language. In time he was accepted by the people, and gained their confidence, although always remaining a "Duine Uasal", a noble person. Synge was born of landed gentry, and this was a divide that could never be bridged between the impoverished islanders and their wealthy well educated guest. He was treated with the greatest of respect, but could never be one of them. He had the handy knack of playing a mean fiddle, which made him a popular figure with the islanders. He was also familiar with conjuring tricks, and could perform feats of athleticism, which helped pass the boredom with these simple peasant folk.
The book was first completed in 1901, but was not published until 1907. Synge considered it as "my first serious piece of work". In the book, Synge describes in some detail the harsh lives of these islanders, and recounts the stories, often imbued with deep superstitions that they told over the turf fires. Amongst the Aran's population were many gifted oral storytellers. They were the last in a long history of passed down oral traditions, that had its origins in the likes of Homer, and even further back into the earlier mists of mans origins. The Gaelic storytelling over the turf fire is not so far removed from the hunter gatherers who spun tales over the campfire. Synge brings all these people to life and paints a vivid picture of their austere lives. Death was not an unusual occurrence in the dangerous seas around the islands, and Synge paints a vivid picture of the funeral of one such victim. Synge caught the people at a time when they were just becoming aware of the value of their Gaelic language, and the possibilities it held for tourism. He describes everyday tasks like the burning of the kelp, and the frenetic loading and unloading of livestock off of the boats. It is a life that has now vanished. Synge would still recognise the rugged geography of the islanders, but the people would be strangers to him. Time has moved on. But he has left us an important little picture of the daily battle for existence on the beautiful but often inhospitable Aran Islands.
I would also thoroughly recommend the wonderful little book "Twenty Years a Growin", written by Maurice O'Sullivan a native islander of the Blasket Islands off the Dingle peninsular. He was a native of the islands, and as such his work has a beautiful and natural Gaelic flow to it. If anything, it is an even greater work than Synge's. Another fine read is Robin Flower's "The Western Island", which recounts the author's experiences living amongst the inhabitants of the Blasket's. Also worth watching is Robert Flaherty's fine documentary "Man of Aran". This gives a fine account of the islander's life, although not strictly historically accurate. If you happen to visit the Aran Islands, it is worth visiting the cottage on Inishmaan that Synge stayed in, which is open to visitors. I wish you happy reading!
The book was first completed in 1901, but was not published until 1907. Synge considered it as "my first serious piece of work". In the book, Synge describes in some detail the harsh lives of these islanders, and recounts the stories, often imbued with deep superstitions that they told over the turf fires. Amongst the Aran's population were many gifted oral storytellers. They were the last in a long history of passed down oral traditions, that had its origins in the likes of Homer, and even further back into the earlier mists of mans origins. The Gaelic storytelling over the turf fire is not so far removed from the hunter gatherers who spun tales over the campfire. Synge brings all these people to life and paints a vivid picture of their austere lives. Death was not an unusual occurrence in the dangerous seas around the islands, and Synge paints a vivid picture of the funeral of one such victim. Synge caught the people at a time when they were just becoming aware of the value of their Gaelic language, and the possibilities it held for tourism. He describes everyday tasks like the burning of the kelp, and the frenetic loading and unloading of livestock off of the boats. It is a life that has now vanished. Synge would still recognise the rugged geography of the islanders, but the people would be strangers to him. Time has moved on. But he has left us an important little picture of the daily battle for existence on the beautiful but often inhospitable Aran Islands.
I would also thoroughly recommend the wonderful little book "Twenty Years a Growin", written by Maurice O'Sullivan a native islander of the Blasket Islands off the Dingle peninsular. He was a native of the islands, and as such his work has a beautiful and natural Gaelic flow to it. If anything, it is an even greater work than Synge's. Another fine read is Robin Flower's "The Western Island", which recounts the author's experiences living amongst the inhabitants of the Blasket's. Also worth watching is Robert Flaherty's fine documentary "Man of Aran". This gives a fine account of the islander's life, although not strictly historically accurate. If you happen to visit the Aran Islands, it is worth visiting the cottage on Inishmaan that Synge stayed in, which is open to visitors. I wish you happy reading!
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Aran Islands" is a delightful rendition of the experiences of J. M. Synge during his visits to the Aran Islands just over a century ago. Synge's journey had been encouraged by William Butler Yeats. "Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression." Here Synge gained an insight into the Irish character which would enrich his later works.
The Aran Islands are a chain of islands off the coasts of Connemara and Clare. Isolated by the sea, the Arans, like the Galapagos in the natural world, preserve the language and customs of traditional Ireland.
The book is a narrative of what Synge saw and the stories he heard during his stays in the Arans, told by a master storyteller in the finest Irish tradition. The language is delightful, the stories are entertaining and the insight into the Irish soul is profound. A must read for any lover of the Irish.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
An interesting turn of the century look at the culture
4 Aug 1998
Format:Paperback
People have often said to me that they find Synge's account of his time spent honing his Irish and collecting folklore on the Aran Islands to be one of the slowest and most boring reads they've ever encountered. I must heartily disagree.
While the work doesn't exactly "swing like the pendulum do", the rhythms of his narration are very much like that of the changing tide and the rolling of the waves to which the islanders have grown accustomed. Synge's narration-- like time on Inishmaan-- moves slowly and steadily, washing over the reader if one will let it.
Remember above all that this work is essentially a series of journal entries, meant to document the people Synge met, the conversations he had, the stories he heard, etc. Perhaps the book's greatest contribution to the world is as a document of a way of life no longer in existence. This book is also a document of the the Irish Literary Renaissance, and-- for its occassional pretensions-- should be ! considered as such. This text might also help to give greater understanding to any reading of Synge's plays, as he alleged that the story for such works as "Playboy of the Western World" were derived from tales he heard in the Arans.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
An Insight Into The Irish Soul
15 Mar 2003
Format:Paperback
"The Aran Islands" is a delightful rendition of the experiences of J. M. Synge during his visits to the Aran Islands just over a century ago. Synge's journey had been encouraged by William Butler Yeats. "Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression." Here Synge gained an insight into the Irish character which would enrich his later works.
The Aran Islands are a chain of islands off the coasts of Connemara and Clare. Isolated by the sea, the Arans, like the Galapagos in the natural world, preserve the language and customs of traditional Ireland.
The book is a narrative of what Synge saw and the stories he heard during his stays in the Arans, told by a master storyteller in the finest Irish tradition. The language is delightful, the stories are entertaining and the insight into the Irish soul is profound. A must read for any lover of the Irish.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
The times are a-changing . . .
25 Sep 2001
Format:Paperback
. . . on Aran as everywhere else. I have had the privilege of spending two weeks on Inish Mor, one 4 years ago and one in the summer of 2001. The difference between the two visits was enormous . . . where on the first visit I saw perhaps 5-6 cars a day on the little roads, now there are minibuses beetling along everywhere. The pony carts are strictly for the tourists. I missed the women setting up kiosks on the road, selling their beautifully made sweaters. At the same time, throughout the summer, the young people put on a nightly concert featuring traditional Irish music and dance -- and it is fantastic! So wonderful to see the beauty of the old traditions taking hold in the hearts of the young men and women.
BUT ... what is quaint to the tourist translates into abject poverty for the native. Reading Synge gives one a sense of what WAS, and how hard it has been (and still is) for families to make a go of it on Aran.
Read it with respect, and remember . . . all things are changing.
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