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Summary:

"Eoin Ua Cathail, a native of Templeglantine, County Limerick, emigrated to the United States in 1863. Recovering an Irish Voice, translated and edited by Patrick J. Mahoney, is a bilingual compilation of Ua Cathail's stories based on his experiences in the West and Midwest. These stories have largely eluded scholarly attention to date, as they were written in the Irish language. The author draws on the popular American Dime Novel genre throughout to offer unique reflections on nineteenth-century American life. His writings are marked by the eccentricities and bloated claims characteristic of much American Western literature of the time, while also offering valuable transnational insights into Irish myth, history, and the Gaelic Revival movement. Ua Cathail's work can be divided into two distinct periods: The first deals with his time as a member of a government mule train accompanying the U.S. military during the Plains Indian Wars, while his later work recalls his time in the booming lumber trade of the Great Lakes region. He depicts fierce encounters with Native American tribes, while also subtly commenting on the hypocrisy of many famine-era Irish immigrants who failed to recognize the parallels between their own plight and that of dispossessed Native peoples. These views are further challenged by his stories set in the upper Midwest. While Ua Cathail is quick to praise infrastructural advances and the opportunities that the land presented to newly arrived immigrants, he is elsewhere remorseful of mass deforestation and damning of the greed of some business owners. This bilingual volume, with facing Irish-English pages, marks the first publication of Ua Cathail's work in both the original Irish and in translation. It also includes a foreword from historian Richard White, a comprehensive introduction by Mahoney, and a host of previously unpublished historical images"-- [Provided by publisher]

Table of Contents:

• Foreword / Richard White
• Introduction / Patrick J. Mahoney
• Trip to Texas (Cuairt air Tecsas)
• Trip to Indian Territory (Cuairt air Tír na th-Indiachaibh)
• Conflict with the Indians (Imreasán leis na th-Indiachaibh)
• Mícheal Ó Mathghamhnuigh and the Indians: How Irish saved his Life and the Lives of Many Others (Mícheál Ó Mathghamhnuigh 's na h-Indiachuighe: Cionnus do shaor an Ghaedhilig a bheatha féin agus beatha mórán daoineadh eile) / Tomás Ó Néill Ruiséal
• The Abduction of Little Máire Ní Fhloinn by a Bear Near Pentwater, Michigan, in 1867 (Fuadach Máire Beag Ní Fhloinn ag Mathghamhuin sa mBliadhain 1867, a ngar d'UisgeGlasda, Misigan)
• The Lucky Frenchman (An Franncach Ádhmharach)
• How Two Young Men Made Themselves Rich in this Place in the Space of Six Years (Cionnas do rinne beirt fearaibh óga iad féin saidhbhir san áit seo air feadh sé bliadhna)
• How the Indian Killed the Bear (Cionnas do Mhairbhthe an Indiach an Mathghamhuin)
• A Courageous Man (Fear Misneamhúil)
• Cowardice (Meathtachd)
• How I Made Two Men Rich Without Either of Them Losing a Farthing (Part 1) (Cionnas do rinneas beirt fearaibh saidhbhir gan feóirling do cailleamhúint le aon cheann díobh (Aon))
• How I Made Two Men Rich Without Either of Them Losing a Farthing (Part 2) (Cionnas do rinneas beirt fearaibh saidhbhir gan cionóg do cailleamhúint le aon cheann díobh (Dara))
• Another Contemptible Man (Fear Suarach Eile)
• Trip to Minnesota (Cuairt air Minnesóta)
• Appendix 1: Untitled editorial on the Spanish American War, May 29, 1899
• Appendix 2: Saoghal an Deóraidhthe (An Exile's Life, 1902)
• Appendix 3: Eoin Ua Cathail to Douglas Hyde, August 30, 1916
• Foclóir - Dictionary.

Author/Creator:

Ua Cathail, Eoin, 1840-1928 , author

Contributors:

Mahoney, Patrick J., 1988- , editor, translator

White, Richard, 1947- , writer of foreword

Languages:

English
Irish

Language Notes:

Text in English and Irish.

Main Work:

Recovering an Irish voice from the American frontier: the prose writings of Eoin Ua Cathail [by Ua Cathail, E.]

Included Works:

Essays [of Ua Cathail, E.] (Selections)

Essays [of Ua Cathail, E.] (Selections) (English)

Other Related Resources:

Online version: Recovering an Irish voice from the American frontier (Denton, Texas : University of North Texas Press, 2021 — ISBN 9781574418354; LCCN 2021004036)

Subjects:

Ua Cathail, Eoin, 1840-1928 — Translations into English

Reportage literature, Irish — West (U.S.) — Translations into English

Frontier and pioneer life — West (U.S.)

Reportage literature, Irish

Frontier and pioneer life

West United States

Genres:

Creative nonfiction

Essays

Translations

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Physical Description:

x, 266 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Physical Characteristics:

illustration

Call Numbers:

PB1399.U17 A2 2021

ISBNs:

9781574418279 (cloth)
1574418270
9781574418354 (ebook) [Invalid]

Library of Congress Control Numbers:

2021004035

OCLC Numbers:

1236899356