The Vanishing World of The Islandman

Exploring An t-Oilenach (anglicised as The Islandman), an indigenous Irish-language memoir written by Toms Criomhthain (Toms O'Crohan), Mirad Nic Craith charts the development of Criomhthain as an author; the writing, illustration, and publication of the memoir in Irish; and the reaction to its portrayal of an authentic, Gaelic lifestyle in Ireland. As she probes the appeal of an island fishermans century-old life-story to readers in several languagesconsidering the memoirs global reception in human, literary and artistic termsNic Craith uncovers the indelible marks of Criomhthains writing closer to home: the Blasket Island Interpretive Centre, which seeks to institutionalize the experience evoked by the memoir, and a widespread writerly habit amongst the diasporic population of the Island. Through the overlapping frames of literary analysis, archival work, interviews, and ethnographic examination, nostalgia emerges and re-emerges as a central theme, expressed in different ways by the young Irish state, by Irish-American descendants of Blasket Islanders in the US today, by anthropologists, and beyond.