Me

“Oícheanta Arabacha” le Deirdre Brennan

Dán é “Oícheanta Arabacha” le Deirdre Brennan a foilsíodh den chéad uair sa bhliain 2007 sa chnuasach Swimming with Pelicans/ Ag Eitilt fara Condair. Tá an bundán Gaeilge chomh maith le haistriúchán Béarla ar fáil sa chnuasach Cuislí Allta / Wild Pulses a foilsíodh in 2017.

Is léir ó theideal agus ó fhotheideal an dáin go mbaineann sé leis an Meánoirthear:

“Oícheanta Arabacha“

Quod non fercerunt Baathi, hoc fecerunt Americani Polonique.

(athleagan ar a ndúirt Byron ag caoineadh scrios an Parthenon) ( Brennan 2007: 29)

Cnuasach de scéalta béaloidis Araibise é ‘Oíche amháin is míle’ nó ‘Na hoícheanta Arabacha’, mar is fearr aithne ar an gcnuasach go hidirnáisiúnta. Is fiú suntas a thabhairt d’fhotheideal an dáin. Is é an t-aistriúchán Gaeilge: “Cibé rud nár scrios na hArabaigh, d’éirigh leis na Meiriceánaigh agus na Polannaigh é a scriosadh.”  Athleagan é seo den nath cáiliúil ón tseachtú haois déag “Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini”, nath a chuireann in iúl fearg mhuintir na Róimhe nuair a tuigeadh dóibh gur cheadaigh Pápa Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini) go dtógfaí cré-umha ó Theampaill na nDéithe le go ndéanfaí gunnaí móra as.  Tá tagairt os íseal don nath sin sa dán “The Curse of Minerva” leis an Tiarna Byron, a cumadh in 1811. I ndán Byron, a luann Brennan san fhotheideal Gaeilge, cáintear an Tiarna Elgin go géar as dealbha luachmhara a ghlacadh as Partanón na hAithne go Sasana.

Cáineadh den chineál céanna atá i gceist sa dán “Oícheanta Arabacha” ach baineann an creachadh agus an bánú atá faoi chaibidil sa dán seo leis an aois seo: le hionradh na hIaráice go sonrach. Tá comharthaí sóirt na linne seo le tabhairt faoi deara sa chéad véarsa:

Ceo bealaithe olúil

ar foluain os cionn cathracha,

os cionn pailmeacha dátaí,

pomagranáití is tamaraiscí,

oíche i ndiaidh oíche

geonaíl na n-eitleán

ina suantraí do pháistí… (29)

Cuireann an file íomhanna den dúlra – “pailmeacha dátaí, pomagranáití is tamaraiscí” – agus íomhanna d’eachtraí míleata – “geonaíl na n-eitleán ina suantraí do pháistí”- i gcodarsnacht lena chéile chun atmaisféar míshocair, uaigneach a chruthú. Meabhraíonn an tagairt don cheo “bealaithe olúil” dúinn an t-amhras a bhí ar dhaoine gur mó a bhain ionradh na hIaráice le suim na Meiriceánach i gcúrsaí ola ná i saoirse na nIarácach. 

Baineann an file úsáid as friotal simplí, gonta chun reacaireacht shollúnta a dhéanamh ar chás na hIaráice. Deimhníonn an file go n-airimid an foréigean agus an t-uafás a bhaineann leis an gcogadh sa bhealach a ndéanann sí cur síos tuairisciúil ar phobal i ndiaidh ruathair bhuamála:

Daoine gearrtha ag smionagar sliogán

adhlactha faoi mhionrabh a dtithe;

coirp ar mhuin mhairc a chéile

i marbhlanana is reoiteoirí

Ag feitheamh ar dhaoine

A mhaífeadh gaol leo. (29)

Ag tús an dara véarsa, léiríonn an file go bhfuil an saol curtha as riocht ag an gcogadh, níl radharcanna, fuaimeanna ná an boladh céanna ag baint leis an gceantar a thuilleadh:

Tá ceol na talún muchta,

Guth an muezzin tachta

na hoighinn aráin fuar,

dream nua tar éis an Tigris a thrasnú,

ag bánú na tíre

mar a bhánaigh

Xerxes, Darius is Alastair é tráth

ar a mbealach chun an domhan a smachtú. (29)

Tugann an líne “guth an muezzin tachta” nod dúinn go bhfuil seans ann gur foréigean seicteach atá i gceist leis an gcogadh seo. Déantar tagairt d’arm nua ag banú na tíre mar a bhánaigh ceannairí míleata eile mar Xerius, Darius agus Alastair tráth agus is cosúil go bhfuil dosheachantacht i gceist leis an bhforéigean a dhéantar ar mhuintir an Mheánoirthir.

Taispeánann an file an bealach a dtugtar neamhaird ar an stair agus ar an gcultúr de bharr spriocanna an chogaidh:

Láithreáin ársa leacaithe,

ina n-ionad tuirlingthe ingearán anois

na mílte mála gainimh stuálta

le cnámha, blúirí seanphotaireachta … (29)

Is ródhócha go bhfuil an file ag tagairt don damáiste a rinne fórsaí Mheiriceá agus na Polainne do dhéantúsáin ársa agus d’oidhreacht chultúrtha na hIaráice. Cé gur tugadh le fios go raibh fórsaí na tíre ag feidhmniú mar shlánaitheoirí do phobal na hIaráice a bhí faoi chois ag rialtas Saddam Hussein, is cosúil go ndearna arm Mheiriceá an-chuid damáiste do chathracha móra na hIaráice agus d’ionaid chultúrtha na tíre araon. Is léir ó thuairisc a chuir The Global Policy Forum (2007) le chéile go ndearna na comhghuallaithe beag is fiú den Acht um Maoin Chultúrtha a Choimirciú i gCás Coinbhleacht Armtha (Coinbhinsiún na Háige, 1954) le linn ionradh na hIaráice. Is suimiúil na cosúlachtaí idir tuairisc John Curtis, Coimeádaí an tSean-Neasoirthir i Músaem na Breataine, ar an scrios a rinneadh ar dhéantúsáin ársa na Baibealóine agus íomhánna an dáin féin. I dtuairisc a chuir Curtis ar fáil in 2005, thug sé le fios go bhfaca sé “military fortification sandbags shoveled full of archeaological material from the site, including shards, bones and ancient bricks” (luaite in The Global Policy Forum 2007: 17-18). Meabhraíonn línte Brennan an tuairisc sin dúinn:

Brící tochailte as áirsí mórshiúlacha

caite ar leataobh i gcarn carta,

inscríbhinn dhingchruthach ar cheann amháin

Nebuchadnezzar, rí na Baibealóine

 a sholathraíonn do Esagila is Esadila,

mac is sine Nabopollazzar,

mise rí na Baibealóine. (30)

Tá ballóga na Baibealóine suite san Iaráic sa lá atá inniu ann. Bhí tábhacht ar leith ag baint le cathair na Baibealóine mar ionad cultúrtha an Mheánoirthir. Díríonn an file aird na léitheoirí ar staid thruamhéalach na cathrach san aonú haois is fiche.

Is suimiúil na féidearthachtaí meafarcha a bhaineann le peirspictíocht reacaire an dáin, rud atá pléite ag Natasha Remoundou sa phóstáil blag “Vertical Verse: Aerial Maps of the Middle East in Contemporary Irish Poetry”. Is cosúil go bhfuil áit cheannasach ag reacaire an dáin agus í ag breathnú síos ar an mBaibealóin mar a bheadh neach diaga ann, ag faire ar eachtraí an chogaidh ar mhaithe le breithiúnas a thabhairt ar pheacaí na gcumhachtaí móra. Go deimhin, d’fhéadfaimid cosúlachtaí a aimsiú idir ionad údárásach an reacaire sa spéir agus radharc an tiománaí dróin nó an “tsúil sa spéir” a thugtar air go minic. Ina choinne sin, tapaíonn an reacaire an deis ár n-aird a dhíriú ar an bpictiúr mór agus ar an stair fhada a bhaineann leis an slad agus leis scrios sa Mheánoirthear, stair a bhfuil baint nach beag ag cumhachtaí an Iarthair léi. 

Ar an drochuair, ní scéal aon chine é seo.  D’fhéadfaí na línte “daoine gearrtha ag smionagar sliogán/ adhlactha faoi mhionrabh a dtithe” a thagairt d’Úcráin an lae inniu. Mar a thuairiscigh UNESCO le déanaí, tá oidhreacht chultúrtha á scrios ansin freisin. Nuair a scriostar ionaid chultúrtha na cruinne caillimid cuid luachmhar d’oidhreacht an chine dhaonna. Is léir go gcaitheann feall den chineál seo amhras ar dhul chun cinn na sibhialtachta, téama atá i gcroílár an dáin “Oícheanta Arabacha”.

Bunfhoinse

Brennan, D., 2007. Swimming with Pelicans/ Ag Eitilt fara Condair (Arlen House: Gaillimh)

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Poetry in Translation 

What is the role of the poet-translator in an interconnected world?

This research strand investigates the political and the ethical aspects of the act of literary translation. How does literary translation by poets facilitate the circulation of ideas and the formation of conscience in a global context? Translated poems are included in this research as an important part of the Irish poet’s œuvre. This is a radical contestation of the view that literary translation is peripheral to the act of creative writing itself. Interesting examples of literary translations in a human rights context include:

  • The anthology Scar on the Stone: Contemporary Poetry from Bosnia (1998), published in the aftermath of the break-up of Yugoslavia, includes translations of Bosnian poetry into English by Irish poets such as Harry Clifton and Chris Agee, and into Irish and English by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill.
  • The anthology After Every War: Twentieth-Century Women Poets (2004), with English translations by Eavan Boland, contains the poems of German-speaking poets who witnessed the devastation of World War II. Boland, whose poetry is renowned for its exploration of lived female experience, chose to translate poems that foregrounded “private vulnerability” recorded by these female poets.
  • Guatánamo: Cimí an Champa a Chum (2008), a translation into Irish by Gabriel Rosenstock of Poems from Guantánamo: The Detainees Speak (2007), edited by Marc Falkoff, is a notable instance of Rosenstock’s commitment to cultural diversity and his questioning of the hegemony of Western values.
  • Pádraig Ó Máille’s translation into Irish of Cahier d’un retour au pays natal, by Afro-Carribean poet Aimé Césaire, was motivated by his interest in postcolonial identity. In his introduction to Nótaí ar fhilleadh ar mo thír dhúchais (2015), Ó Máille stresses the importance of Césaire’s literary text as impetus to explore the postcolonial mentality and its impact on Irish language, culture, and politics.
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English-language Poetry

How have Irish poets writing in English addressed human rights issues in our interconnected world?

This research strand focuses on how Irish poets, writing in the English language, have addressed international human rights questions and violations in their work since the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. It considers how the language of poetry can be employed to respond to specific conflicts, events, and challenges, which may take place at a considerable geographic distance.

Irish poets have increasingly recognized the role of media technologies and networks in transmitting news on specific events, and how the medium of poetry responds to the forms and rhetoric of news media, or the language of journalism. Information networks and digital platforms extend the scope and reach of both news reporting and poetry, but also raise issues related to political control, transnational power, and citizen agency.

In recent decades, advances in media technology have taken place alongside the growing environmental crisis and the escalation of climate change. The emergence of the posthumanist paradigm also informs a number of poems considering human rights alongside the rights of non-human life and vulnerable habitats supporting ecosystems as well as human communities. Such a change of perspective highlights the ethically problematic aspects of attempting to define the “human” or the “human person” as a distinct category.

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Irish-language Poetry

What human rights violations do Irish-language poets address in their poetry?

This research strand focuses on how Irish poets, writing in the Irish language, have addressed international human rights questions and violations in their work. Our research shows that poets writing in Irish frequently engage with international issues of import. This challenges the conventional perception of Irish-language poetry as focusing on the language itself and on its increasing minoritization. For instance, poets writing in the Irish language in the twentieth and twenty-first century have addressed such varied issues as:

Chosen examples:

  • The suffering of those affected by nuclear bombings or incidents in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Chernobyl: ‘Aifreann na Marbh’ (Eoghan Ó Tuairisc); ‘Gaoth Anoir’ (Conleth Ellis); ‘Picnic i Reilig sa Bhílearúis’ (Celia de Fréine); ‘Chernobyl’ (Claire Dagger)
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  • The minoritization of First Nation peoples in North America: ‘Bundúchas’ (Liam Ó Muirthile); ‘Damhsa na dTaibhsí’ (Séamus Ó hUltacháin); ‘Laoi an Indiaigh Dhíbeartha’ (Gabriel Rosenstock); ‘Nawak’osis’ (Dairena Ní Chinnéide)
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