As I took the train to Kilkenny and toured the ancient grounds of Christchurch in Dublin, I read The Dirty Dust by Máirtín Ó Cadhain, translated from Irish by Alan Titley. In this utter classic from the 1940s, a cacophony of voices, particularly the spirited newcomer Caitriona Paudeen, continue their dialogues, feuds, and grievances from their places in the town graveyard.
This novel is silly, absurd, and even laugh-out-loud petty as Caitriona feuds mightily with both her living sister Nell and the mother of her daughter-in-law, Nora Johnny. Side plots persist as newly dead continue to bring news into the cemetery, from remarriages to updates on promises once made to the dead, and class conflicts [and even political elections] persist between those in the cheaper "15 shilling" and more premium "pound" plots. The dark comedy is rich, the insults are absolutely wild (from "meddling muppet of a mother" to others I would share if I wouldn't risk getting my account reported.
Of course I've never read the original in Irish, but I still have to commend Titley on getting the darkly comic, sometimes "vulgar," and deeply familiar vibes of the text just right—they all sound like a gaggle of people who have known each other and their families for years, the voices are distinct (from the newly "cultured" Nora to John Willy and his "dicey heart"), and once you settle into the rhythm of the text, it speeds on by. A great, spirited read for the majority of my days abroad in Ireland.
Content warnings for racism, anti-Semitic and racist language, g-slur, classism.
