Deoraíocht (Exile) is a neglected masterpiece by Pádraic Ó Conaire,
one of the most European-minded of early twentieth-century
Irish-language authors. I assisted in its rebirth in Faroese by matching
Ó Conaire with another gifted eccentric, Agnar Artúvertin. I have translated poems and stories by Artúvertin into Irish. The book is called Ifreann (Hell), with a hellish cover by Pakistani artist Mohsin Shafi. Before the publication of Ifreann, Artúvertin was relatively unknown in Ireland. Now he is completely unknown.
I am very happy to see Deoraíocht in Faroese. The author had lost
his head in more ways than one: in 1999 four men from County Armagh, Mr
Garret Leahy, Mr Gavin McNaney, Mr John McManus and Mr Garry O' Connor
decapitated him - (i.e. his statue in Eyre Square, Galway).
My own novel,
incidentally, is called My Head is Misssing but has nothing to do with the Galway incident (as far as I know). It has a cover by the Indian artist Amit Kalla.
I tried to bring Agnar to Ireland for the launch of Ifreann but,
as far as I remember, the Danes would only offer him €100.00 or so and
this would not go very far in the Dublin pubs where our launch was going
to happen (i.e. in a dozen or so pubs more or less simultaneously).
Our pool of consciousness widens. Actually it doesn't. It's as wide as Original Mind. It is simply becoming conscious of itself!
Very few people go to bed at night thinking of Faroese (not even the Faroese). We must change all that!
