Seacht Mbua an Éirí Amach Seven Virtues of the Rising

Home , Gaeltacht, Galway Vindicator, McDonagh, Patrick Pearse, Seosamh Mac Grianna

S EACHT M B UA AN É IRÍ A MACH S EVEN V IRTUES OF THE R ISING

Pádraic Ó Conaire

S EACHT M B UA AN É IRÍ A MACH S EVEN V IRTU ES OF THE R ISING

aistrithe ag/t ranslated by Diarmuid de Faoite

r éamhrá le/ i ntroduction by Brendan McGowan

Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach Seven Virtu es of the Rising

is published in 2016 by/Foilsithe i 2 016 ag A RLEN H OUSE in association with C LÓ I AR - C HONNACHT 42 Grange Abbey Road Baldoyle , Dublin 13 , Ireland Fón/Facs: 00 353 86 8207617 Ríomhphost: [email protected] arlenho use.blogspot.com

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978 – 1 – 85132 – 1 61 – 2 , paperback/bog 978 – 1 – 85132 – 1 71 – 1 , hardback/crua

translation s © Cló Iar - Chonnacht , 2016 introduction © Brendan McGowan, 2016

The moral rights are asserted/Gach ceart ar cosaint

Clóchur ¦ Arlen House

Sao thar Ealaíne ¦ ‘ GPO in Flames II’ by Norman Teeling

Tá an leabhar seo maoinithe i bpáirt ag Comhairle Cathrach na Gaillimhe mar chuid dá Clár Comórtha d’Éire 2016. This book has been part - funded by Galway City Council as part of its Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme.

Tá Arlen House buíoch de Chlár na Leabhar Gaeilge agus d’Fhoras na Gaeilge

C LÁR

7 List of Illustrations

11 Introduction Brendan McGowan

S EACHT M B UA AN É IRÍ A MACH S EVEN V IRTUES OF THE R ISING 39 Ceoltóirí 85 Musicians

129 Díoltas 143 Revenge

155 Beirt Bhan Misniúil 175 Two Courageous Women

193 Anam an Easpaig 213 The Bishop’s Soul

233 Bé an tSiopa Seandachta 251 The Antique Shop Muse

269 Rún an Fhir Mhóir 293 The Big Fellow’s Secret

315 M’Fhile Caol Dubh 341 My Dar k, Slender Poet

3 6 4 Acknowledgements ¦ Rún Buíochais

L IST OF I LLUSTRATIONS

Ó Conaire’ s parents, Thomas and Kate Conroy, c. 1880s.

Public house by the docks in which Ó Conaire was born on 28 February 1882.

Studio photograph of the young Ó Conaire, c . 1890.

Ó Conaire (centre) at Rockwell College, Co. Tipperary, 1898.

Ó Conaire and Molly McManus, c. 1910.

Crowds greeting returning republican prisoners at Westland Row Station (now Pearse Station), Dublin, 1917.

Ó Conaire (centre) with teachers from Coláiste Mhic Phiarais , 1925.

Sean - Phádraic Ó Conaire.

Pádraic Ó Conaire (1882 – 1928).

Sculptor Albert Power (1882 – 1945) with statue of Ó Conaire, c. 1935.

Éamon de Valera (1882 – 1875) unveiling statu e of Ó Conaire in Eyre Square, Galway, 1935.

Poet Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910 – 1988) and Michael D. Higgins, Mayor of Galway, unveiling a headstone over Ó Conaire's grave at Bohermore Cemetery, Galway, 1982.

I gcuimhne ar

James agus Irene McGowan (née Ferguson)

a gus ar

Leo agus Mary Whyte (née Léime)

1 0

S EACHT M B UA AN É IRÍ A MACH S EVEN V IRTUES OF THE R ISING

Brendan McGowan

I NTRODUCTION First published in Irish by Maunsels in 1918, Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach / Seven Virtues of the Rising is a collection of seven stories by Pádraic Ó Conaire (1882 – 1928), the Galway - born writer, journalist, teacher and wandering raconteur. The Irish language edition was republished by Sáirséal agus Dill in 1967, edited by Tomás de Bhaldraithe (1916 – 1996), and reprinted by Cló Iar - Chonnacht in 2010. This, however, is the fi rst time that all seven stories have been translated into English and published together. 1 Despite the title of the collection, the stories themselves are not directly concerned with the actual events of the 1916 Rising (although there are several allusio ns to key figures and locations); instead they reflect the seismic shift

in public opinion in favour of those pursuing Irish independence rather than Home Rule, which culminated in the electoral success of Sinn Féin in 1918. This political realignment was largely as a result of the British government’s mishandling of the Rising and, as the Great War (1914 – 1918) dragged on, the threat to extend conscription to Ireland. Arguably the first important fictional response to the Rising, the book secured Ó Conaire ’s position as the foremost writer in modern Irish and the only one of international standing. While admitting that it was of uneven quality and not his best (or even second best) work, the Donegal writer Seosamh Mac Grianna (1900 – 1990) hailed the book as the eighth virtue of the Rising. In recognition of its literary importance, Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach was recently selected for inclusion in The Irish Times and Royal Irish Academy series Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks . 2

Ó Conaire’s parents, Thomas and Kate Conroy, c. 1880s

Public house by the docks in which Ó Conaire was born on 28 February 1882

B ACKGROUND Patrick Joseph Conroy (Pádraic Ó Conaire) was b orn in Galway town in 1882 to middle - class Catholic publicans . F ollowing the untimely deaths of h is parents (his father in 1887 and his mother in 1984), he was reared by extended family members in the Connemara Gaeltacht and County Clare,. 3 H e attended Rockwell College, County Tipperary, before transferring to Blackrock College in Dublin. In 1899, he finished school without completing his final exams and took a lowly position in the Civil Service in London. There, Ó Conaire joined the London Branch of the Gaelic League and flourished as an Irish - language teacher and writer, publishing his first short s tory, An t - Iascaire agus an File (‘The Fisherman and the Poet’), in An Claidheamh Soluis in 1901. Widely read and influenced by European literary models, Ó Conaire wrote in simple, direct Irish about the grim reality of life in contemporary Ireland, dealin g with themes such as poverty, emigration, isolation, vagrancy,

alcoholism, despair and mental illness. 4 In 1906, he won an Oireachtas award for short fiction for his stark story Nora Mhárcais Bhig (‘Nora, Daughter of Little Marcus’) about a poor Connemara girl who falls into a life of drink and prostitution when she emigrates to London, and is eventually disowned by her father. Though not a native speaker in the strict sense, he became the most innovative Irish - language writer to emerge from the Gaelic Rev ival, publishing his novella Deoraíocht (‘Exile’) in 1910 and his collection of short stories An Chéad Chloch (‘The First Stone’) in 1914 to great acclaim.

Studio photograph of the young Ó Conaire, c. 1890

Ó Conaire (centre) at Rockwell College, Co. Tipperary, 1898

In terms of his writing style, Ó Conaire often addressed the reader in the manner of a seanchaí or storyteller . The poet Austin Clarke (1896 – 1974) observed that Ó Conaire shaped his stories by first telling ‘them casually to friends and st range rs ’. 5 Indeed, it has been claimed that Ó Conaire was the first modern Irish writer to make the transition from story teller to story writer. 6 Writer and republican activist P. S. O’Hegarty (1879 – 1955) compared his style to that of two Russian authors: In his economy of words in his best stories , and in the austerity of his style, and his ruthless ending of the story when it has been adequately told, he has resemblances to Tchekov

[ Anton Chekhov, 1860 – 1904] , while his general background, a background in which sinners are simply unfortunate people, is not unlike that of another great Russian writer – Dostoievski [Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1821 – 1881]. 7

Ó Conaire and Molly McManus, c. 1910

Ó Conaire’s work was not without its faults, however, and he had his de tractors. S ome purists criticised his ‘grammatical impurities and paucity of vocabulary’ and claimed his writing was tainted by the influence of English in phrase and idiom. 8 Others objected to his writing on purely moral grounds, accusing his work of bein g ‘indecent’. 9 Unconventional in manner and dress, Ó Conaire got to know both the sophisticated and sordid sides of life in London, mixing with Irish émigrés in the Gaelic League but also with the ‘wandering and unfortunate, tinkers and gypsies, who dwelt on the Embankment’. 10 Undoubtedly, the people he met on his frequent rambles inspired the characters in his stories. P. S. O’Hegarty recalled that, even in cosmopolitan London, Ó Co naire stood out from the crowd: Small and sturdy, the inevitable stick, pi pe, hat on the back of his head, brown suit, and then the fine head, the broad forehead and the kindly, luminous eyes. In Fleet St., and in cities generally, he looked, and he was an alien . 11 Prone to drinking and wandering, P. J. Devlin (‘Celt’, 1877 – 194 1), another acquaintance of Ó Conaire’s , recalled that ‘the waywardness of Padraic, the eccentricities of his character, rendered him a puzzle and persona non grata to many acquaintances’. 12 In his political outlook, Ó Conaire was a nationalist and social ist, and firmly believed in what he called ‘the trinity of freedom: economic, national and personal’. 13 Like many of his acquaintances in London, including the revolutionary Michael Collins (1890 – 1922), he joined the Irish Volunteers and, it seems, the Iri sh Republican Brotherhood (IRB). 14 With the threat of conscription looming, Ó Conaire returned to Ireland in 1915, leaving behind his common - law wife, Mary McManus, and their four children. 15 Back in Ireland, Ó Conaire found work as a

timire or organiser w ith the Gaelic League and in the spring of 1916 he undertook a tour of the country to ascertain the condition of the Irish language. While in Ulster, he was twice arrested – at least once for refusing to answer the questions of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) in English – and was incarcerated in Armagh Gaol during the Rising. 16

Crowds greeting returning republican prisoners at Westland Row Station (now Pearse Station), Dublin, 1917

By the summer of 1917, Ó Conaire had completed Seacht mBua an Éirí A mach. And when, in June 1917, the last of those imprisoned following the Rising were released from British jails and returned to Dublin, he was there to welcome the returnees and canvass nationalist sympathisers for funds towards the publication costs. 17 A round the same time, Ó Conaire was electioneering for Sinn Féin during the famous by - election in East Clare in which Éamon de Valera (1882 – 1975) was returned by a large majority, replacing the incumbent MP, Willie

Redmond (1861 – 1917) of the Irish Parliamen tary Party, who was killed in action in Belgium. 18

Ó Conaire (centre) with teachers from Coláiste Mhic Phiarais , 1925

Ó Conaire offered the completed manuscript to Maunsels, a publishing house synonymous with the Irish Literary Revival which had publ ished the collected works of Patrick Pearse in 1917; its premises at 96 Middle Abbey Street had been destroyed by British guns during the Rising but the generous compensation from the Property Losses Commission for loss of stock (including ‘semi - treasonabl e works’) allowed it to rebuild its business. Co -

director Edward MacLysaght (1887 – 1986) immediately recognised the book’s literary merit but felt that it would not be commercially viable. Nonetheless, MacLysaght decided to take a chance on the book and bou ght the copyright himself for £50: never expec ting to see a penny of it again [ but ] in actual fact it was quite successful for an Irish language book and I reckon that in the end I just about got my money back . 19 Like the protagonists in Seacht mBua an Éi rí Amach , MacLysaght had been deeply impacted by the events of 1916: In the weeks that followed the long drawn out toll of executions and subsequent events had a profound effect on me. From that time on I felt I would have to be much more than the sympath etic Gaelic Leaguer spectator I had been hitherto. Indeed the effect of Easter Week on me, as upon the majority of other Irishmen who were not even Gaelic Leaguers, was just what Pearse and Connolly hoped and expected it would be. 20 With financial backing and a publisher secured, Ó Conaire had one final obstacle to overcome. In the aftermath of the Rising everything printed in the Irish language had to be submitted to Dublin Castle, the seat of British administration in Ireland, for scrutiny. Seacht mBua an Eírí Amach was given in instalments to RIC Head Constable Peter Folan to translate and review before publication was permitted. Folan, a Connemara man with nationalist sympathies, allowed the book to pass inspection without edit. 21 The book was finally pu blished in April 1918 and was, as one might expect, hailed by the publishers as ‘ without doubt his best book’: It is more mature; his command of language as always is remarkable and his subject is refreshingly modern. His seven stories, seven victories or triumphs of the Rising, as he calls them, represent the after effects of the Rising on different types of individual Irishmen. Perhaps the most striking is

Anam an Easbuic [‘Anam an Easpaig/The Bishop’s Soul’], in which a bishop’s political metamorphose i s described with particular brilliance. No reader of modern Irish can afford to miss this book. We have endeavoured, perhaps, for the first time in the history of modern Irish literature to turn out this book in a manner worthy of its importance. It contai ns no word of any language but Irish, and is printed and bound in Ireland, in the style of our best books. 22

Sean - Phádraic Ó Conaire

Described as Ó Conaire’s ‘last important creative work’, each of the seven stories – a novella and six short stories – deals with the way the Rising intervenes in the lives of Irish men and women. Typically, Ó Conaire wrote about: ordinary people, living ordinary lives, of fishermen, domestics, married women and spinsters, country and small

town types, that is to say of t he life and of the people he knew. He wrote largely of people whose lives were not very happy, who made mistakes, did the wrong thing at the crucial time, that is to say he wrote of life realistically. For him, there are no sinners, only unlucky ones and u nfortunates. 23

Pádraic Ó Conaire (1882 – 1928)

By contrast, however, many of the protagonists in Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach belong to the middle or even upper classes. ‘Ceoltóirí/Musicians’; ‘Díoltas/Revenge’ and ‘ Beirt Bhan Misniúil /Two Courageous Women’ are centred on large estate houses and are the first stories about the ‘Big House’ in the Irish language. 24 In some of the stories, the Rising erupts quite unexpectedly, ‘diverting the flow of events or even totally demolishing the plot just as it moves t owards a resolution’, as in the case of ‘Ceoltóirí/ Musicians’. 25 Some of the plotlines, it must be said, tend towards the bizarre or even improbable. One reviewer, Fr Cathaoir Ó Braonáin (1875 – 1937), noted that unlike much of the output of the Gaelic Rev ival, which was produced to save the language rather than for purely literary value, Ó Conaire had delivered ‘a piece of pure literature which he would have us judge as such’. 26 He compared the author with two fellow contemporaries, Patrick Pearse (1879 – 19 16) and Pádraig Ó Siochfhradha ( An Seabhac , 1883 – 1964), arguing that Ó Conaire: paints on a larger canvas than either. His themes are broader, his types more various. For them the almost inevitable background was the Gaeltacht. He make s his background of l ife itself . 27 Having first read the book in the summer of 1918, León Ó Broin (Leo Byrne, 1902 – 1990) wrote that his previous work had ‘marked him out for … distinction in the small and generally undistinguished band who were writing in Irish at that time’ b ut that Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach : raised Ó Conaire out of that class completely and placed him on a plane so immeasurably higher that the Gaelic world justifiably thought that the striving of the preceding quarter of a century to revive the language had not been in vain. To have produced at last a native writer whose work was comparable both as to style and matter with his contemporaries abroad was, to the revivalists, a sure indication that the corner had been turned. 28

Ó Broin also felt that the book h ad inspired other Irish - language writers ‘to venture into paths which an inferiority complex had theretofore prevented them from treading’. Three of the seven stories were singled out for particular praise by readers and critics alike: ‘ Beirt Bhan Misniúi l/ Two Courageous Women’; ‘ Anam an Easpaig /The Bishop’s Soul’, and ‘M’Fhile Caol Dubh/My Dark, Slender Poet’. In particular, ‘ Beirt Bhan Misniúil /Two Courageous Women’ was favourably compared to the work of Anton Chekhov, the great Russian short - story write r. Never reluctant to give an opinion, Seosamh Mac Grianna thought the story was better than anything produced by Walter Scott, Thomas Hardy, Guy de Maupassant or Leo Tolstoy. 29 However, not everyone was as taken with it as Mac Grianna; journalist Seán Mac Réamoinn (John Redmond, 1921 – 2007) dismissed it as the sort of story produced by O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 1862 – 1910), American author and master of the ironic plot - twist ending. 30

Sculptor Albert Power (1882 – 1945) with statue of Ó Conaire, c. 1 935

Ó Conaire dedicated the book itself to Anne Gordon (c. 1880 – 1836), the Scottish - born wife of Englishman Thomas B. Rudmose - Brown (‘Ruddy’, 1878 – 1942), Professor of Romance Languages at Trinity College , Dublin and mentor to Samuel Beckett (1906 – 1989). E vidently, at the time of writing, Ó Conaire was well - acquainted with Anne Gordon, and there are pointers to suggest that it was, or became, a romantic relationship. 31 Indeed, Pádraig Ó Siadhail has suggested that the characters of Eibhlín, her husband and her poet - lover in ‘M’Fhile Caol Dubh/My Dark, Slender Poet’ are in fact based on Ó Conaire and Mr and Mrs Rudmose - Brown. 32

Éamon de Valera (1882 – 1875) unveiling statue of Ó Conaire in Eyre Square, Galway, 1935

Interestingly, there are several allusio ns throughout the book to key figures and locations connected with the Rising. The commander in ‘ Díoltas /Revenge’ is clearly General John Maxwell (1859 – 1929), who had served in

South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899 – 1902) and was appointed Military Governor during Easter Week. The tobacconist’s shop in ‘ Bé an tSiopa Seandachta/ The Antique Shop Muse’ is a clear reference to the newspaper and tobacconist shop belonging to Thomas ‘Tom’ Clarke (1858 – 1916), one of the key architects of the Rising, which w as situated at 75A Great Britain Street (now Parnell Street) and was a focal point for the IRB. This particular story is littered with references to other identifiable locations in the capital; writer and critic Eoghan Ó hAnluain (1938 – 2012) described it a s ‘the closest thing we have in Irish to the standard Joycean description in Dubliners ’. 33 Its central character, Peadar O’Donnell, seems to have been based on Seán Mac Diarmada (1883 – 1916), Clarke’s closest and staunchest ally; both IRB men, Clarke and Ma c Diarmada were the first signatories of the Proclamation. The bishop in ‘ Anam an Easpaig /The Bishop’s Soul’ can be identified as the controversial and outspoken Edward Thomas O’Dwyer (1842 – 1917), Bishop of Limerick. The story itself is inspired by a spat between Bishop O’Dwyer and General Maxwell. In the aftermath of the Rising, the g eneral had requested that th e b ishop reprimand two republic an priests in his diocese. The b ishop responded with a blistering letter, which he had published, defending the prie sts and denouncing the g eneral’s mishandling of the Rising: You took care that no plea for mercy should interpose on behalf of the poor young fellows who surrendered to you in Dublin … Personally, I regard your action with horror, and I believe that it ha s outraged the conscience of the country. Then the deporting of hundreds and even thousands of poor fellows without a trial of any kind seems to me an abuse of power as fatuous as it is arbitrary and your regime has been one of the blackest chapters in the history of misgovernment of the country. 34

In ‘ Rún an Fhir Mhóir /The Big Man’s Secret’ the rebel in question can be identified as Liam Mellows (1895 – 1922), who led the Rising in Galway from his camp in Athenry and who afterwards evaded the authorities dre ssed as a nun before escaping to the United States.

C ONCLUSION Ó Conaire was a prolific writer, publishing hundreds of short stories and polemical essays in Irish on a variety of topics, including socialism, nationalism, language and literature, in perio dicals like The Freeman’s Journal and The Irishman . 35 Yet despite his output and reputation, he struggled to eke out a living from writing. Two years after the publication of Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach , Ó Conaire complained that ‘after all that has been don e for the Irish language for eighteen years, there is less interest in literature today than at any time throughout that period’. 36 The reality was that Irish - language publications were primarily seen as educational texts and not literat ure. In the 1920s, Ó Conaire struggled with alcohol addiction and his health and, indeed, the quality of his writing deteriorated. Ironically, most of his best writing was produced during his time in London and, following the foundation of the Irish Free State , a great deal of his literary talent was wasted writing Irish - language ‘potboilers’ for schoolchildren in an effort to fend off ‘ an t - ocras agus an tart ’. Ó Conaire spent his final years in poor health in Galway (but also spent time in Dublin, Wicklow and London), teac hing at the Technical School and Irish summer colleges and writing for the Connacht Sentinel and other newspapers. In early October 1928, Ó Conaire visited his friend, the Aran writer Liam O’Flaherty ( Liam Ó Flaithearta, 1 896 – 1984), at his cottage near Gl encree, County Wicklow.

O’Flaherty recalled that he ‘looked a dreadful wreck, almost in rags, his body twisted’ and that the: tragedy of his life weighed heavily on him and he spoke of the evil of his past; but he insisted that he had been driven to the ex cesses that had made him a homeless wanderer by loneliness, be gotten of a lack of recognition . 37

Poet Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910 – 1988) and Michael D. Higgins, Mayor of Galway, unveiling a headstone over Ó Conaire's grave at Bohermore Cemetery, Galway, 1 982

He offered O’Flaherty advice drawn from his own life: ‘ No matter what you do,’ he cried, pointing finger solemnly at me, ‘make a home somewhere and stick to it. Have somewhere you can call your own, even if it’s only a mud - walled cabin. That is the im portant thing. Look at me and take

warning. Don’t smile. Don’t think because you are young and healthy that you can play fast and loose for another few years and then settle down. To think like that will only bring you to the position I’m in’. 38 Having bid farewell to O’Flah erty, Ó Conaire walked the fifteen miles or so into Dublin where he bumped into fellow writer Séamas Ó Grianna (‘Máire’, 1889 – 1969) and complained to him of a pain in his stomach. 39 On 6 October 1928, Ó Conaire died alone and in abject p overty i n the Richmond Hospital, Dublin with nothing to his name but his pipe, some tobacco and an apple. By the time of his death, Ó Conaire had published more than 400 short stories, six plays and a short novel, as well as some 200 journalistic essays. In his relatively short lifetime, Ó Conaire had become something of a legendary figure and it is often difficult to discern fact from fiction in the stories told about him. Indeed, Ó Conaire himself contributed to his own myth by spinning ‘glorious and fac t free yarns’ about his travels and adventures. The author and historian, Desmond Ryan (1893 – 1964) recalled that Ó Conair e once recounted a story about: a remarkable journey of his own across Russia to meet Tolstoy [Leo Tolstoy, 1828 – 1910], with whom he ha d held a long conversation, and Tolstoy had said that only one man had ever understood Tolstoy and that man was Pádraic Ó Conaire . 40 Since his passing, Ó Conaire’s legacy has been somewhat tarnished by his depiction as a drunkard. Borrowing from Oscar Wil de, the poet Seumas O’Sullivan (James Sullivan Starkey, 1879 – 1958) once quipped that Ó Conaire was ‘drinking beyond all our means’. 41 In the mid - 1920s, dramatist Sean O’Casey (1880 – 1964), ‘seeing Ó Conaire dru nk as usual’, remarked that he:

has become impo ssible; all his friends are becoming tired of him. I don’t mind a man being drunk occasionally, but I draw the line at … one who is always in that state . 42 Others, however, were quick to defend Ó Conai re. P. S. O’Hegarty wrote that: he liked a drop, and i n his later years took too much. But no matter how much he took, he retained his manners and his gentleness […] and the memory he leaves behind is not that of a toper, but that of a most attractive, likeable, and companionable man . 43 Ó Conaire’s friend, a ctor and writer Micheál Mac Liammóir (Alfred Willmore, 1899 – 1978), summed up his life as follows: He was of the tribe that is passing from the world, a born story - teller, a wanderer, and a wastrel, one who like Raftery had known hardship and carousal every where, and who, more than Wilde had ever dreamed of doing, had put his talent into his work, his genius into his life; a great man whom it was impossible not to love . 44

Galway , 28 September 2016

N OTES 1 In 1956, de Bhaldraithe selected three stories from Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach for Scothscéalta ( Best Stories ), a collection of ten short stories by Ó Conaire. The stories were ‘ Beirt Bhan Misniúil ’ , ‘ Anam an Easpaig ’ and ‘ M’Fhile Caol Dubh ’ . Given that Scothscéalta was published in 1956, the fortieth annive rsary of the Rising, de Bhaldraithe may have felt under pressure to give precedence to stories from Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach over other (perhaps better) works. In 1982, the centenary of the birth of Ó Conaire, David Marcus (1924 – 2009) and Poolbeg Press co mmissioned and published a translated collection of the writer’s best works entitled Padraic O Conaire: 15 Short Stories , which included ‘Two Brave Women’, translated by Redmond O’Hanlon, and ‘My Dark, Slender Poet’, translated by Bryan MacMahon; later edi tions included ‘The Bishop’s Soul, translated by Breandán Ó hEithir.

2 The Irish Times , 23 November 2014. Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks is a collaboration between The I rish Times and the Royal Irish Academy, assessing a century of Irish creativity. A pane l of experts convened by the Academy chose a single Irish artwork – book, painting, sculpture, play, poem or building – for each year from 1916 to 2015. The series began with A Portrait of a Young Man by James Joyce, published in December 1916. 3 His fathe r, Thomas Conroy (Tomás Ó Conaire), was a publican and shopkeeper who came from Garrivinnagh, Rosmuc in the Connemara Gaeltacht, and his mother was Kate McDonagh (Cáit Ní Dhonncha) from a well - to - do merchant family in Galway town. In 1887, with the family businesses failing, Thomas Conroy departed for the United States, leaving his young family behind. He died of typhoid fever in Boston on 16 March of that year and was buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Roslindale ( Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 16 20 – 1988 & Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841 – 1915 . www. ancestry.com, accessed 2 July 2016). Kate died suddenly in Galway in January 1894 ( Galway Vindicator , 24 January 1894). 4 His knowledge of contemporary European literature is clearly evident in his awa rd - winning essay , Seanlitríocht na nGael agus Nualitríocht na hEorpa ( ‘Old Irish and New European Literature’, published in An Claidheamh Soluis , 12 December 1908) in which he draws particular attention to several Russian authors, including Nikolai Gogol, Iva Turgenev, Leonid Andreyev, Maxim Gorki and Leo Tolstoy, and three Scandinavians, Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Knut Hamsun; see Gearóid Denvir (ed.), Aistí Phádraic Uí Chonaire (Indreabhán, 1978), pp 42 – 52. A friend of Ó Conaire’s from his ti me in London, Min Ryan (Máire Ní Riain, 1884 – 1977) recalled him talking about Anton Chekhov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Maurice Maeterlinck , Francis Tompson, George Bernard Shaw and John Galsworthy, but stating that he preferred the English novelist Thomas Hardy more than any other writer; see Criostóir Mac Aonghusa, ‘Súilfhéachaint ar Shean - Phadraic’, in An Léitheoir , Vol. 1, No. 4 (1956), n.p. 5 Austin Clarke, A Penny in the Clouds: More Memories of Ireland and England (Dublin, 1990), p. 78. 6 Maureen Murphy, ‘T he Short Story in Irish’, in Mosaic , Vol. 12, No. 3 (1979), p. 86.

7 P. S. O’Hegarty , ‘Pádraic O Conaire’, in The Bell , Vol. 3, No. 3 (1944), p. 238. 8 León Ó Broin, ‘Pádraic Ó Conaire’, in The Capuchin Annual (1934), p. 257 and J. E. Caerwyn Williams and Patrick K. Ford, The Irish Literary Tradition (Cardiff, 1992), p. 281. 9 For an example of a high - profile objection to his ‘indecent’ works see Tomás de Bhaldraithe, ‘Conspóid faoi Phádraic Ó Conaire’, in Tomás de Bhaldraithe (ed.), Pádraic Ó Conaire: Cloc ha ar a Charn (Baile Átha Cliath, 1982), pp 101 – 106 . 10 O’Hegarty, ‘Pádraic O Conaire’, p. 235. 11 Ibid . 12 P. J. Devlin, ‘Padraic O Conaire: As I Knew Him’, in An Ráitheachán: The Gaelic Quarterly Review (1936), p. 29. 13 Colm Breathnach, ‘ Réabhlóid Phádr aic Uí Chonaire / An tAthrú Mór: Scríbhinní Sóisialacha le Padraic Ó Conaire ’, in Saothar: Journal of the Irish Labour History Society , Vol. 33 (2008), p. 138. 14 In his autobiography, León Ó Broin writes that Ó Conaire and Collins were sworn into the IRB in London by P. S. O’Hegarty; see León Ó Broin, Just Like Yesterday: An Autobiography (Dublin, 1986), p. 159. Cathal Ó Seanáin (Charles Shannon, 1889 – 1969) believed that Ó Conaire was already in the IRB at the time of the Gaelic League’s Oireachtas in Galway in 1913; see Cathal Ó Seanáin, ‘Padraic Ó Conaire’, in Comhar , Vol. 15, No. 12 (1956), p. 18. 15 Ó Conaire and Dubliner Mary Agnes McManus (‘Molly’, 1876 – 1945) had four children together: Eileen (b. 1905, Westminster); Patrick Joseph (b. 1906, Southwark); Kathleen (b. 1909, Southwark) and Mary Josephine (b. 1911, Lambeth). In 1911, the family were living at 23 Ravensden Street in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth (Census of England and Wales, 1911). Ó Conaire and McManus formally married in 1926 , two years before the author’s death. She was killed during a German air - raid on London in January 1945 ( Irish Independent , 12 January 1945). 16 William J. Feeney, Drama in Hardwicke Street : A History of the Irish Theatre Company (Rutherford, 1984) , p. 13 0 and Áine Ní Chnáimhín, Pádraic Ó Conaire (Baile Átha Cliath, 1947), p. 71. 17 Mícheál Ó hAodha and Ruán O’Donnell (eds), On The Run: The Story of an Irish Freedom Fighter. A T ranslation of Colm Ó Gaora’s Mise (Cork, 2011), p. 212.

18 ‘ Although not a poli tician, Padraic O Conaire was ever ready to answer the call of country and race, when any big issue was involved. He was a separatist, standing for Irish independence and a clean cut between this country and England. He believed that to be Ireland’s final destiny, and that nothing less would suffice. I can remember his energy and enthusiasm as a worker for “Sinn Fein” during the famous by - election in County Clare in the summer of 1917, when Eamon de Valera … was returned with a triumphant majority. As far a s I know, that was the only campaign in which Padraic addressed public meetings. He was an effective speaker but preferred the less showy work of canvassing and organising.’ Padraic O’Maille, ‘Padraic O Conaire: Prince of Story - Tellers’, in The Ireland - Ame rican Review , Vol. 1, No. 3 (c. 1940), p. 386. 19 Edward MacLysaght, Changing Times: Ireland Since 1898 as S een by Edward MacLysaght (Gerrards Cross, 1978), p. 61. 20 MacLysaght, Changing Times , p. 55. 21 Peter Folan, Bureau of Military History, Witness St atement No. 316, pp 5 – 6. RIC Head Constable Pet er Folan from Park, Spiddal, County Galway, was in Dublin Castle when it was attacked by members of the Irish Citizen Army on Easter Monday, 1916. During the War of Independence, the disaffected Folan was recr uited as a spy for the IRA, providing documents and information to the republican movement. 22 Robert Lynd, It the Germans Conquered England, and Other Essays (Dublin, 1917), p. 184. 23 O’Hegarty, ‘Pádraic O Conaire’, p. 238. 24 Criostóir Mac Aonghusa, Ó R os Muc go Rostov (Baile Átha Cliath, 1972), p. 57. 25 Tim Robinson, Connemara: A Little Gaelic Kingdom (Dublin, 2011), p. 13. 26 C. O’B. , ‘Seacht mBuaidh an Eirighe - Amach’, in Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review , Vol. 7, No. 27 (1918) , p. 519. 27 C. O’B., ‘ Seacht mBuaidh an Eirighe - Amach’, p . 520. 28 Ó Broin, ‘Pádraic Ó Conaire’, pp 254 – 55. 29 Seosamh Mac Grianna, Pádraic Ó Conaire agus Aistí Eile ( Baile Átha Cliath, 1969), p. 33. 30 Seán Mac Réamoinn, ‘Padraic Ó Conaire’, in Comhar , Vol. 15, No. 12 (1956), p. 9.

31 Donnchadh Ó Corráin, James Hogan : Revolutionary, Historian and Political Scientist (Dublin, 2001), p. 206 ; and Clarke, A Penny in the Clouds , p. 76. 32 Pád raig Ó Siadhail, ‘“Anna Ghordún” agus an “ G aberlunzie Man” . Nóta faisnéise faoi Anne Gordon Rudmose - Brown agus faoi Phádraic Ó Conaire’, in Eoin Mac Cárthaigh and Jürgen Uhlich (eds), Féilscríbhinn do Chathal Ó Háinle (Indreabhán, 2012), p. 923. 33 Eoghan Ó hAnluain, ‘Baile Átha Cliath i Nua - Litríocht na Gaeilge’, in Scríobh 4 (1979), p. 29. 34 L etter from Bishop Edward Thomas O’Dwyer to General John Grenfell Maxwell, 17 May 1916 (Limerick Diocesan Archives). 35 For a comprehensive list of published essays and stories see An tSr Eibhlín Ní Chionnaith, ‘Pádraic Ó Conaire: Liosta Saothair’, in Gearó id Denvir (ed.) , Pádraic Ó Conaire: Leachtaí Cuimhneacháin ( Indreabhán, 1983), pp 65 – 83. For his socialist writings, see: Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh, Réabhlóid Phádraic Uí Chonaire (Baile Átha Cliath, 2007) and Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh (ed.), An tAthrú Mór: Scríbh inní Sóisialacha le Pádraic Ó Conaire (Baile Átha Cliath, 2007). 36 From ‘ Lucht Leabhar agus Lucht Peann: Cé’n Donas Ata Ortha? ’ (published in Old Ireland , 21 February 1920). Translation quoted in Philip O’Leary, The Prose Literature of the Gaelic Revival, 1881 – 1921: Ideology and Innovation (Pennsylvania, 2005), p. 461. 37 Liam O’Flaherty, Shame the Devil (Dublin, 1981), p. 155. 38 Ibid , p. 155. 39 Mac Aonghusa, Ó Ros Muc go Rostov , p. 61. 40 Desmond Ryan, Remembering Sion (London , 1934), pp 108 – 09. 41 Clar ke, A Penny in the Clouds , p. 71. 42 Robert Hogan and Michael J. O’Neill (eds), Joseph Holloway's Abbey Theatre: A Selection from His Unpublished Journal “Impressions of a Dublin Playgoer” ( Carbondale, 2009) , p. 245. 43 O’Hegarty, ‘Pádraic O Conaire’, p. 2 37. 44 Micheál Mac Liammóir, All for Hecuba: An Irish Theatrical Autobiography (London, 1947), p. 62.

B IBLIOGRAPHY Breathnach, Colm, ‘ Réabhlóid Phádraic Uí Chonaire / An tAthrú Mór: Scríbhinní Sóisialacha le Pádraic Ó Conaire ’, in Saothar: Journal of the Ir ish Labour History Society , Vol. 33 (2008), pp 137 – 138 .

Clarke, Austin, A Penny in the Clouds: More Memories of Ireland and England (Dublin, 1990) . de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (ed.), Scothscéalta le Pádraic Ó Conaire (Baile Átha Cliath, 1956) . de Bhaldraithe, T omás, ‘Conspóid faoi Phádraic Ó Conaire’, in Tomás de Bhald raithe (ed.), Pádraic Ó Conaire: Clocha ar a Charn (Baile Átha Cliath, 1982), pp 101 – 106 . Denvir, Gearóid (ed.), Aistí Phádraic Uí Chonaire (Indreabhán, 1978) . Devlin, P. J. [Patrick James], ‘Padra ic O Conaire: As I Knew Him’, in An Ráitheachán: The Gaelic Quarterly Review (1936), pp 27 – 30 . Feeney, William J., Drama in Hardwicke Street : A History of the Irish Theatre Company (Rutherford, 1984) . Hogan, Robert and O’Neill, Michael J. (eds), Joseph Hol loway's Abbey Theatre: A Selection from His Unpublished Journal “Impressions of a Dublin Playgoer” ( Carbondale, 2009) . Lynd, Robert, It the Germans Conquered England, and Other Essays (Dublin, 1917) . Mac Aonghusa, Criostóir, ‘Súilfhéachaint ar Shean - Phadr aic’, in An Léitheoir , Vol. 1, No. 4 (1956), n.p. Mac Aonghusa, Criostóir, Ó Ros Muc go Rostov (Baile Átha Cliath, 1972) . Mac Grianna, Seosamh, Pádraic Ó Conaire agus Aistí Eile ( Baile Átha Cliath, 1969) . Mac Liammóir, Micheál, All for Hecuba: An Irish Th eatrical Autobiography (London, 1947) . MacLysaght, Edward, Changing Times: Ireland since 1898 as seen by Edward MacLysaght (Gerrards Cross, 1978) . Mac Réamoinn, Seán, ‘Padraic Ó Conaire’, in Comhar , Vol. 15, No. 12 (1956), pp 6 – 9 . Murphy, Maureen, ‘The Sh ort Story in Irish’, in Mosaic: A Journal for the Comparative Study of Literature and Ideas , Vol. 12, No. 3 (1979), pp 81 – 89 . Ní Chionnaith, An tSr Eibhlín, ‘Pádraic Ó Conair e: Liosta Saothair’, in Gearóid Denvir (ed.), Pádraic Ó Conaire: Leachtaí Cuimhnea cháin ( Indreabhá n, 1983), pp 65 – 83 . Ní Chnáimhín, Áine, Pádraic Ó Conaire (Baile Átha Cliath, 1947) . O’B., C. [ Ó Braonáin, Fr. Cathaoir ], ‘Seacht mBuaidh an Eirighe - Amach’, in Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review , Vol. 7, No. 27 (1918) , pp 519 – 520 . Ó Broin, León, ‘Pádraic Ó Conaire’, in The Capuchin Annual (1934), pp 254 – 260 .

Ó Broin, León, Just Like Yesterday: An Autobiography (Dublin, 1986) . Ó Cathasaigh, Aindrias, Réabhlóid Phádraic Uí Chonaire (Baile Átha Cliath, 2007) . Ó Cathasaigh, Aindrias (ed.), An t Athrú Mór: Scríbhinní Sóisialacha le Pádraic Ó Conaire (Baile Átha Cliath, 2007) . Ó Conaire, Pádraic, Seacht mBuaidh an Eirighe - Amach (Bai le Átha Cliath, 1918). Reprinted: Tomás de Bhaldraithe (ed.), Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach (Baile Átha Cliath, 1967) and Tomás de Bhaldraithe (ed.), Seacht mBua an Éirí Amach (Indreabhán, 2010) . Ó Corráin, Donnchadh, James Hogan : Revolutionary, Historian and Political Scientist (Dublin, 2001) . O’Flaherty, Liam, Shame the Devil (Dublin, 1981) . Ó hAnluain, Eoghan, ‘Baile Átha Cliath i Nua - Litríocht na Gaeilge’, in Scríobh 4 (1979), pp 25 – 46 . Ó hAodha, Mícheál and O’Donnell, Ruán (eds), On The Run: The Story of an Irish Freedom Fighter. A translation of Colm Ó Gaora’s Mise (Cork, 2011) . O’Hegarty, P. S. [Patrick Sarsfield], ‘Pád raic O Conaire’, in The Bell , Vol. 3, No . 3 (1944), pp 233 – 239 . O’Leary, Philip, The Prose Literature of the Gaelic Revival, 1881 – 1921: Ideology and Innovation (Pennsylvania, 2005) . O’Maille, Padraic, ‘Padraic O Conaire: Prince of Story - Tellers’, in The I reland - American Review , Vol. 1, No. 3 (c. 1940), pp 379 – 88 . Ó Seanáin, Cathal, ‘Padraic Ó Conaire’, in Comhar , Vol. 15, No. 12 (1956), pp 17 – 20 . Ó Siadhail, Pádraig (2012) ‘“Anna Ghordún” agus an “Gaberlunzie Man” . Nóta faisnéise faoi Anne Gordon Rudmose - B rown agus faoi Phádraic Ó Conaire’, in Mac Cárthaigh, Eoin and Uhlich, Jürgen (eds), Féilscríbhinn do Chathal Ó Háinle (Indreabhán, 2012), pp 917 – 933 . O Tuairisc, Eoghan et al. , Padraic O Conaire: 15 Short Stories (Dublin , 1982). Reprinted: Eoghan Ó Tuair isc, et al. , The Finest Stories of Padraic O Conaire (Dublin, 1986). Robinson, Tim, Connemara: A Little Gaelic Kingdom (Dublin, 2011). Ryan, Desmond, Remembering Sion (London, 1934). Williams, J. E. Caerwyn and Ford, Patrick K., The Irish Literary Traditio n (Cardiff, 1992).

S EACHT M B UA AN É IRÍ A MACH S EVEN V IRTUES OF THE R ISING