History Literature / ThePoorMouth

* ShoutOut: Bonaparte's repeated use of variations on "I do not think my like will be seen again" (''Ní dóigh liom go mbeidh mo leitéid arís ann'') is this to Tomás Ó Criomhthain, who famously used it as the last line of ''An tOileánach''.

It's an AffectionateParody of a particular genre in Irish-language literature, the Peasant Autobiography, and is notable today for being one of the few works originally written in Irish which has achieved a wide readership--albeit in translation. It tells the story of the life of an Irish peasant, Bónapárt Ó Cúnasa (Bonaparte O'Coonasa) who grows up in a small town, Corkadoragha, in the west of Ireland.

* HereBeDragons: The book contains a map of the world as seen by the people of Corca Dhorcha. Dublin and Cork are vague blobs on the east coast marked ''na daoine uaisle'' (the respectable people), Sligo Jail features prominently. America (simply referred to as ''thar lear'', "abroad") is a blob to the west, marked with Niú Iarc[[note]]a phonetic rendering of New York, and not its "proper" Irish name of ''Nua Eabhrac''[[/note]], Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts[[note]]which is not as arbitary as it sounds. Many emigrants from the Blaskets, the place Corca Dhorcha parodies, settled there.[[/note]]. China lies to the north and the rest of the world to the south. To the east, there is a largely irrelevant island called ''de odar saighd'' whose only point of interest is Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw. Scotland, on the other hand, curves all the way round to Connacht, with the routes of seasonal labourers marked. All points on the compass mark "West".

The darkness of these books, but also the perception of them as being darker than they perhaps were, is what O’Nolan took aim it in ''An Béal Bocht''. It’s a brilliant parody of the stereotypical portrayal of the Irish peasant as being dirt poor, unable to speak English, constantly in danger, and at the mercy of forces beyond their control, including the law itself but also the predations of folklorists coming to record their language. As an Irish speaker himself, O’Nolan was wary of being patronised by people who thought that there was something strange and magical about Irish speakers, and who praised ''An Béal Bocht'' is an antidote to that.

It wasn’t translated into English until 1973, by Patrick C. Power, whose work has been justly praised as superb.

The darkness of these books, but also the perception of them as being darker than they perhaps were, is what O’Nolan took aim it in ''An Béal Bocht''. It’s a brilliant parody of the stereotypical portrayal of the Irish peasant as being dirt poor, unable to speak English, constantly in danger, and at the mercy of forces beyond their control, including the law itself but also the predations of folklorists coming to record their language. As an Irish speaker himself, O’Nolan was wary of being patronised by people who thought that there was something strange and magical about Irish speakers. ''An Béal Bocht'' is an antidote to that.

It's an AffectionateParody of a particular genre in Irish-language literature, the Peasant Autobiography, and is notable today for being one of the few works originally written in Irish which has achieved a wide readership--albeit in translation. It tells the story of the life of an Irish peasant, Bonaparte O’Coonassa, who grows up in a small town, Corkadoragha, in the west of Ireland. He has various misadventures

Brian O’Nolan was born into an Irish-speaking household, and Irish was his first language growing up. He became moderately famous with the publication in 1939 of his debut novel Literature/AtSwimTwoBirds, which earned him a side gig writing a famous newspaper column, "Cruiskeen Lawn", in Ireland’s most prestigious newspaper ''The Irish Times''. "Cruiskeen Lawn" was originally in Irish, before O’Nolan began writing the column in English, whereupon it took off.

O’Nolan had a deep love of Irish literature, and it’s been noted that the way he tended to express his love for something was to send it up. In the 1920s and 30s, the peasant communities in the west of Ireland were dwindling, along with the culture that they had supported for centuries. A number of the storytellers of these communities were encouraged by folklorists to tell their stories. The first to do was '''Tomás Ó Criomhtháin''' (1856-1937, often anglicised as "Tomás O’Crohan"), first in a collection of anecdotes called ''Allagar na h-Inise'' ("Island Cross-Talk") and then in his autobiography ''An tOileánach'' ("The Islandman"), which he wrote in his 60s and which was published in 1928. After him came '''Peig Sayers''' (1873-1958), who dictated her memoir ''Peig'', and '''Muiris Ó Súilleabháin''' (anglicised as "Maurice O’Sullivan", 1904-1950), whose book ''Fiche Bliain ag Fás'' ("Twenty Years A-Growing") came out in 1933. These books were on the Irish-language syllabus in Irish schools for decades, being eventually replaced in the 1990s by something slightly more relatable for teenagers.

Among the characteristics of the peasant autobiographies was a sense of stoicism in the face of poverty and hardship: almost all of Ó Criomhtháin’s ten children died in childhood, and his wife also died at a young age, while Peig Sayers’ book was notorious for its opening line ''I am an old woman now, with one foot in the grave and the other on its edge.'' (Ó Súilleabháin’s book, by contrast, is a bit more chipper.)

The darkness of these books, but also the perception of them as being darker than they perhaps were, is what O’Nolan took aim it in ''An Béal Bocht''. It’s a brilliant parody of the stereotypical portrayal of the Irish peasant as being dirt poor, unable to speak English, constantly in danger, and at the mercy of forces beyond their control, including the law itself but also the predations of folklorists coming to record their language. As an Irish speaker himself, O’Nolan was wary of being patronised by people who thought that there was something strange and magical about the Irish. ''An Béal Bocht'' is an antidote to that.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Subverted. A pig is dressed in a suit of clothes, and a Gaeligore mistakes it for an actual Irish speaker whose Irish must be unusually pure because it's so unintelligible.

O’Nolan had a deep love of Irish literature, and it’s been noted that the way he tended to express his love for something was to send it up. In the 1920s and 30s, the peasant communities in the west of Ireland were dwindling, along with the culture that they had supported for centuries. A number of the storytellers of these communities were encouraged by folklorists to tell their stories. The first to do was '''Tomás Ó Criomhtháin''' (1856-1937, often anglicised as "Tomás O’Crohan"), first in a collection of anecdotes called ''Allagar na h-Inise'' ("Island Cross-Talk") and then in his autobiography ''An tOileánach'' ("The Islandman"), which he wrote in his 60s and which was published in 1928. After him came '''Peig Sayers''' (1873-1958), who dictated her memoir ''Peig'', and '''Muiris Ó Súilleabháin''' (anglicised as "Maurice O’Sullivan", 1904-1950), whose book ''Fiche Blian ag Fás'' ("Twenty Years A-Growing") came out in 1933. These books were on the Irish-language syllabus in Irish schools for decades, being eventually replaced in the 1990s by something slightly more relatable for teenagers.

* ShoutOut: Bonaparte’s repeated use of variations on "I do not think my like will be seen again" (''Ní dóigh liom go mbeidh mo leitéid arís ann'') is this to Tomás Ó Criomhtháin, who used it quite a lot in his work.

O’Nolan had a deep love of Irish literature, and it’s been noted that the way he tended to express his love for something was to send it up. In the 1920s and 30s, the peasant communities in the west of Ireland were dwindling, along with the culture that they had supported for centuries. A number of the storytellers of these communities were encouraged by folklorists to tell their stories. The first to do was Tomás Ó Criomhtháin (1856-1937, often anglicised as "Tomás O’Crohan"), first in a collection of anecdotes called ''Allagar na h-Inise'' ("Island Cross-Talk") and then in his autobiography ''An tOileánach'' ("The Islandman"), which he wrote in his 60s and which was published in 1928. After him came Peig Sayers (1873-1958), who dictated her memoir ''Peig'', and Muiris Ó Súilleabháin (anglicised as "Maurice O’Sullivan", 1904-1950), whose book ''Fiche Blian ag Fás'' ("Twenty Years A-Growing") came out in 1933. These books were on the Irish-language syllabus in Irish schools for decades, being eventually replaced in the 1990s by something slightly more relatable by teenagers.

Among the characteristics of the peasant autobiographies was a sense of stoicism in the face of poverty and hardship: almost all of O Criomhthain’s ten children died in childhood, and his wife also died at a young age, while Peig Sayers’ book was notorious for its opening line ''I am an old woman now, with one foot in the grave and the other on its edge.'' (Ó Súilleabháin’s book, by contrast, is a bit more chipper.)

* Oireland: Brutally parodied.

O’Nolan had a deep love of Irish literature, and it’s been noted that the way he tended to express his love for something was to send it up. In the 1920s and 30s, the peasant communities in the west of Ireland were dwindling, along with the culture that they had supported for centuries. A number of the storytellers of these communities were encouraged by folklorists to tell their stories. The first to do was Tomás Ó Criomhtháin (1856-1937, often anglicised as “Tomás O’Crohan”), first in a collection of anecdotes called ''Allagar na h-Inise'' (“Island Cross-Talk”) and then in his autobiography ''An tOileánach'' ("The Islandman"), which he wrote in his 60s and which was published in 1928. After him came Peig Sayers (1873-1958), who dictated her memoir ''Peig'', and Muiris Ó Súilleabháin (Maurice O’Sullivan, 1904-1950), whose book ''Fiche Blian ag Fás'' ("Twenty Years A-Growing") came out in 1933. These books were on the Irish-language syllabus in Irish schools for decades, being eventually replaced in the 1990s by something slightly more relatable by teenagers.

Brian O’Nolan was born into an Irish-speaking household, and Irish was his first language growing up. He became moderately famous with the publication in 1939 of his debut novel Literature/AtSwimTwoBirds, which earned him a side gig writing a famous newspaper column, "Cruiskeen Lawn”", in Ireland’s most prestigious newspaper ''The Irish Times''. "Cruiskeen Lawn" was originally in Irish, before O’Nolan began writing the column in English, whereupon it took off.