Customer Reviews

The Aran Islands

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

People have often said to me that they find Synge's account of his time spent honing his Irish and collecting folklore on the Aran Islands to be one of the slowest and most boring reads they've ever encountered. I must heartily disagree.

While the work doesn't exactly "swing like the pendulum do", the rhythms of his narration are very much like that of the changing tide and the rolling of the waves to which the islanders have grown accustomed. Synge's narration-- like time on Inishmaan-- moves slowly and steadily, washing over the reader if one will let it.

Remember above all that this work is essentially a series of journal entries, meant to document the people Synge met, the conversations he had, the stories he heard, etc. Perhaps the book's greatest contribution to the world is as a document of a way of life no longer in existence. This book is also a document of the the Irish Literary Renaissance, and-- for its occassional pretensions-- should be ! considered as such. This text might also help to give greater understanding to any reading of Synge's plays, as he alleged that the story for such works as "Playboy of the Western World" were derived from tales he heard in the Arans.

"The Aran Islands" is a delightful rendition of the experiences of J. M. Synge during his visits to the Aran Islands just over a century ago. Synge's journey had been encouraged by William Butler Yeats. "Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression." Here Synge gained an insight into the Irish character which would enrich his later works.

The Aran Islands are a chain of islands off the coasts of Connemara and Clare. Isolated by the sea, the Arans, like the Galapagos in the natural world, preserve the language and customs of traditional Ireland.

The book is a narrative of what Synge saw and the stories he heard during his stays in the Arans, told by a master storyteller in the finest Irish tradition. The language is delightful, the stories are entertaining and the insight into the Irish soul is profound. A must read for any lover of the Irish.

. . . on Aran as everywhere else. I have had the privilege of spending two weeks on Inish Mor, one 4 years ago and one in the summer of 2001. The difference between the two visits was enormous . . . where on the first visit I saw perhaps 5-6 cars a day on the little roads, now there are minibuses beetling along everywhere. The pony carts are strictly for the tourists. I missed the women setting up kiosks on the road, selling their beautifully made sweaters. At the same time, throughout the summer, the young people put on a nightly concert featuring traditional Irish music and dance -- and it is fantastic! So wonderful to see the beauty of the old traditions taking hold in the hearts of the young men and women.

BUT ... what is quaint to the tourist translates into abject poverty for the native. Reading Synge gives one a sense of what WAS, and how hard it has been (and still is) for families to make a go of it on Aran.

Read it with respect, and remember . . . all things are changing.

J.M. Synge's book about life on the desolate Aran Islands is a very well written look into a society that could only exist until that time, and in that place. The Aran Islands, a group of islands off the west coast of Ireland, were at the time almost completely cut off from the mainland, except via the 'hooker' and the skin covered 'curagh' that plays such a critical part both in life on the islands, and in the book. Life there was very hard and made the character of the prople very unique. The islands were, and are, one of the strongest 'Irish' speaking cultures, and the ability to find life in the midst of it all is profoundly apparent throughout the book, as is Synge's obvious appreciation of the simple life and simple beliefs found there (note the comparison he makes to the 'busy' and 'lost' world in Galway, merely across the bay). It is a book of it's time, and shound be read in the context of the beginning of the 'Irish Revival' then beginning.

This book describes the adventures of J. M. Synge on the Aran Islands around the turn of the Twentieth Century. William Butler Yeats suggested that Synge visit the island in order to learn Irish and become acquainted with traditional Irish culture as it had been preserved on the islands. Synge followed his suggestion, and made four lengthy trips to the islands. In this book, he recounts his experiences on the islands, together with some of the stories and poems that were recited to him there.

The book is a unique collection of travelogue, journal, and research notebook. Synge describes his relationships with individuals on the islands, as well as some of the common traits and customs observable there. He tells us about harrowing sea passages that he took from island to island in small rowed boats, and records a number of folk-tales that were shared with him by island residents. Synge was to draw on all of this material in his later writing career, making the book quite interesting for those who enjoy his plays. The book also provides informative details of what daily life was like in this remote region at the time.

The search for authentic experiences is regarded as an important theme in postmodernism. John Millington Synge's book demonstrates that this quest for authenticity has been an important part of cultural inquiry for a long time. This wonderful book was written almost one hundred years ago, but it reads like a contemporary ethnographic inquiry. He provides vivid descriptions of daily life and wonderful presentations of the folklore of the Aran Islands. The book is primarily descriptive, but there are interesting textures and conclusions throughout Synge's writing. I would recommend reading this book and then watching Flaherty's film "Man of Aran." Follow up that visual feast with Stoney's "The Making of the Myth." To complete your excursion, top things off with a reading of Synge's "Playboy of the Western World" and "Riders to the Sea," two fine plays that he set on the Aran Islands. The stories, descriptions, and textures within Synge's book will become very clear when you're finished.

Not only does this book describe a time long past but Synge has a deeper sense of the psychology of the inhabitants of the Aran Islands and how it differs with that of "civilized" people of the time. Anyone who is interested in this topic and enjoys this book would do well to read Twenty Years A-Growing by Maurice O'Sullivan, which is a personal account by Mr. O'Sullivan of his life on Ireland's Great Blasket Island and is a wonderful, lyrical read that shows alot of humor as well as love for the natural world around him.

This book definitely starts slowly, and initially one may be put off by a sense that Synge is trying to adopt an appropriate voice and is uncertain where he fits in with the picture. Give it time, however, and both the description of the time and place, and finally Synge's place in it, become really interesting. He was young but also something of an invalid at the time, and the perspective varies movingly and thought-provokingly, from total outsider to partial insider, thanks to huge but under-stated effort on the part of Synge, driven by both a desparate urge to amount to something in his short life, and a wistful desire to partake of a "normal" life that would elude him.

J.M. Synge might have been one of the best Irish writers in history, but despite that fact and the fact that his subject, the life on the desolate Aran Islands, is a very interesting one, I cannot help but be bored by this book. The Aran Islands is a group of islands outside the west coast of Ireland, and the life there is very harsh. The sea, the wind, the lack of good soil... all this worked to make life here very hard and shaped the culture and the attitude of the individuals. Furthermore, the islands were almost totally cut off from the mainland at the time this book was written (now it's a popular tourist spot where you can visit "Synge's cottage"). Synge went to the Aran Islands five or six times during as many years, and wrote this book to "express a life that never found expression before" (Yeat's words). The life on these islands, far from the modern civilization that takes place only a few hours away on the Irish mainland, is indeed of interest. But nothing happens. In the whole book. It starts with Synge being on the Island, his first day there. It ends with Synge leaving the Islands for the last time. In between, all there is is the interesting description of the islanders' life, which could have been described better in another way, and Synge's mixed emotions of them. As a reader you get the visitor's view of the island, a visitor that wants so badly to be accepted at one time, the next minute, he thinks of them as primitive. It is worth reading because of the informative contains, however. And if you plan on visiting the islands, it's a must-read.

My dad was born there in the 1950's and i was named after it. not a bad place, not much to do but nice to visit. the book is informal but informative.