Drawn from a handwritten manuscript in Irish, a new book about daily life on the Great Blasket Island will be launched shortly at University College Cork. Cin Lae Eibhlin is drawn from diaries of Blasket islander Eibhlin Ni Shuilleabhain. She was the sister of Muiris, who wrote the classic Fiche Bliain ag Fas.
The diaries were written between May 1923 and November of that year at the instigation of Brian O Ceallaigh who was instrumental in urging Tomas O Criomhthain to write An tOileanach.
The diaries lay for years unnoticed in the National Library together with the remainder of O Ceallaigh's papers.
A schools inspector, O Ceallaigh had gone to the Great Blasket initially at the suggestion of Padraig O Siochfhrada (An Seabhac) to learn spoken Irish and O Criomhthain had befriended Eibhlin Ni Shuilleabhain.
Her diaries were written for him as a daily and lively account of the comings and goings on the Great Blasket.
The diaries have now been edited by Mairead Ni Loingsigh who teaches in the Irish department at UCC.
They constitute an important addition to the body of literature produced on the island. Working through the original handwritten manuscript was a labour of love, she says. "Prof Sean O Coileain, head of the modern Irish department here at UCC, urged me to do my thesis on the diaries, it was he who brought the existence of the manuscript to my attention.
"I think it's fascinating that O Suilleabhain's sister was already writing her diaries before Muiris had written Fiche Bliain ag Fas.
Her accounts of island life were very immediate, not retrospective like much of the other literature. Her view of the island was very positive and even though she was anticipating leaving for Springfield, Massachusetts, the island and island life were clearly big enough for her.
"Nil aon ait mar an baile; ni fheadfa deanamh danuil in aon ait eile ach ann' - "there's no place like home; you couldn't make bold anywhere else,' she wrote, and that was only after a visit to Dun Chaoin.
"She was a very skilful writer with a lovely style and it is obvious that she enjoyed telling her story. I think it can only be good that it will reach an audience for the first time," Ms Ni Loingsigh said.
The completion of the edited diaries has already been marked in a small ceremony at the Blasket Island Centre, Dun Chaoin, which did not attract any great publicity. Perhaps the fact that the Great Blasket is still able to deliver fresh material will eventually receive the attention it deserves.
This could be an opportune time because the unabridged text of Peig, edited by Mr Liam O Murchu, a senior lecturer at the department of Irish in UCC, and Ms Maire Ni Mhainnin, also of UCC, is available now, warts and all.
Unlike the approved and sanitised version, once compulsory in the school curriculum, which had the effect of turning students away from the language, the original text reveals Peig to be outspoken on subjects such as drunkenness and religion, taboo matters not too many years ago. How will French youth respond to Peig? A French translation by Ms Joelle Gacque, a Breton, was published recently and is doing well, according to Mr O Murchu.