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Peig sayers hate11/3/2023 Sinéad then proceeds via boat to the Great Blasket, where we meet various islanders, discussing life for Peig as it would have been when she arrived after an arranged marriage, and making the best of bleak circumstances. Sinéad Ní Uallacháin: on a mission to get to the bottom of Peig Sayers' legacy, and perceptions of her place in Irish culture Ní Dhálaigh also stripped back some of the piety and sombre nature of the Peig caricature, telling of a fondness for tobacco, and the odd mood swing in its absence! "Peig was the Netflix of the time," says Ní Dhálaig, outlining a different side to Sayers' legacy, one of a full house where friends and neighbours would gather to be entertained. Heading home for Corca Dhuibne, a homeplace she shares with the great storyteller, Ní Uallacháin makes for the Blasket Centre, where she speaks with Máire Ní Dhálaigh, who sets about righting a long-held wrong. She filled her brief well," remarks a clearly-awed Ní Uallacháin. One of the documentary's real standout moments, though, comes when existing recordings of Peig's storytelling are played from reel-to-reel tape, revealing a raspy, colourful voice that betrays a natural orator. Pictures of a broadly-smiling old woman, taking obvious joy in speaking with others, cast her in a new light. It's one thing to see old pictures and read tales that reinforce perceptions of Sayers as a doom-sayer, especially when set against excerpts of others' work satirising her life and legacy.īut when Ní Uallacháin steps into the archives at the National Folklore Collection at UCD, history springs to life. A constant of the documentary, in fact, is questioning her suitability for the syllabus in the first place - a decision attributed to the early Irish governments' attempts at placing an established Irish canon in schools, as well as selective interpretation on her son Maidhc's part when writing stories down. It was never Sayers' intention to be placed on the curriculum in the first place, of course. Insíonn an taispeántas seo an scéal mealltach sin.Many people of a certain vintage point to her writing as a deterrent from learning Irish ("That bitch ruined my life!", exclaims one person, in a story). Ach ní thugann an leabhar seo léargas iomlán ar Pheig Sayers, an scéalaí ab fhearr i bpobal ina raibh flúirse scéalaithe maithe, ar na Blascaodaí agus i nDún Chaoin. Tá clú ar Pheig Sayers de bharr a beathaisnéise, Peig, a Scéal Féin, a foilsíodh ar dtús i 1936 agus a bhí ar churaclam na meánscoile ó 1962 go 1995. Bhí scríobh (an Bhéarla) aici, ach an bua is mó a bhí aici ná bua na scéalaíochta, ina teanga dhúchais, an Ghaelainn. Cosúil leis-sean, bhí líofacht teangan as an ngnáth aici, samhlaíocht iontach, agus fuadar cruthaitheachta. Mhair Peig Sayers (1873-1958) thart faoin am céanna le James Joyce (1882-1941). Níor scríobh siad na nithe seo – is amhlaidh gur inis siad iad. Ar feadh na cianta sara raibh léamh ná scríobh ag daoine, chum siad an iliomad seánraí ficsin, filíochta, agus drámaí. Ach tá níos mó i gceist le litríocht ná an focal scríofa – níl ansin ach barr an chnoic oighir. Is mór an meas atá ar litríocht agus scríbhneoirí na hÉireann. This exhibition tells that captivating story. Peig the book does not give a full picture of Sayers – the greatest storyteller in a community of great storytellers, the Blasket Islands and Dún Chaoin. She is best known for her autobiography, Peig, a Scéal Féin, first published in 1936 and on the Irish school curriculum from 1962-1995. Sayers could write, but her greatest achievement was as an oral storyteller, in her native Irish language. Like him, she had an exceptional mastery of language, a vivid imagination and an irrepressible creative urge. They didn’t write their creations down – they told them. For centuries before literacy was the norm, people created and produced many genres of fiction, poetry and drama. But written stories, poems and plays are not our only kind of literature – they are the tip of the iceberg. Peig Sayers, An Old Woman’s Reflections The sea is dashing itself against the rocks and rushing into the black coves and ravines where the seals live.” The golden mountains of Ireland stretch before me. “I like this lonely spot better than anywhere in Ireland.
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