The Aran Islands

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.

"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.

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.