Cork author tackles the perception of truth
What if our entire perception of truth could be instantaneously unravelled through the discovery of an ancient secret?
This concept lies at the core of Cork Irish language writer Thaddeus Ó Buachalla’s award-winning book ‘EL’ which has just been published in English for the first time under Cork publisher Mercier Press.
Having undertaken the “dance” of translation himself, Ó Buachalla is delighted his book will now reach a whole new audience, while also maybe reminding people of the extremely active and vibrant world of Irish literature.
“Some people possibly think that Irish language literature began and ended with Peig (Sayers), but it doesn't,” says Ó Buachalla.
“Irish novels are being written all the time and to a really high standard. Very innovative, creative writers are working constantly in the Irish language. So, I think it is a good way as well to kind of draw attention to that fact that, you know, Irish language literature is there.”
The translation process itself was bit of a strange one for Ó Buachalla whose passion for the Irish language runs deep. Holding a PhD in Modern Irish from UCC, he is also a poet and a singer who performs a mix of traditional sean-nós and spoken-word pieces.
Asked if he found any part of the process enjoyable, he says: “I'm not sure if enjoyable would be the word because you're very precious about something that you've already invested a great deal of time and effort into. You can't really allow it to lose any of its essence.
“But at the same time, each language works differently. You're trying to manoeuvre between two forces that are kind of dragging in opposite directions, but I hope I found a good balance there anyway.
“I couldn't write a novel in English, it would feel wrong for me,” he adds.
Originally published in Irish by Coiscéim in 2022, Ó Buachalla’s book ‘EL’ follows Cork academic Seán who, after killing an annoying fly, discovers a species of microscopic humanoid beings living inside the insect, a fact that’s been kept secret for centuries. The discovery launches him into a labyrinth of historical conspiracy, ancient texts, and dangerous secrets that powerful people have killed to protect. As Seán and his fellow researchers dive deeper, they uncover evidence that this same discovery was made centuries ago by some of Europe's greatest minds—Galileo, Milton, Newton — only to be ruthlessly suppressed. At its core, ‘EL’ asks arguably the most urgent question of our time: Who controls reality?
For Ó Buachalla, the potent combination of satire and fantasy forms a powerful lens through which he explores the world. His book “doesn't have dragons”, he says, but it does borrow from the likes of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ in how it blends fantasy and historical truths to deliver a commentary that is both absurd and uncomfortably close to home.
Ó Buachalla says: “I think every writer, no matter who they are, whether they try to do it purposely or not, they always write about the world that they live in.
“I do purposely try to say things about the world as I see it, but I can do it through fantasy. I try to make it seem plausible to the reader that the fantastical notion is actually true. ’EL’, for example, is a fantasy story. There is a kind of an absurd, fantastical notion, but I go to great pains through historical research to kind of piece together historical facts. At no point does the reader begin to believe that it's true because it's totally absurd, but there is this tension between truths.”
One thing that’s definitely true is that Ó Buachalla, who is originally from Cork city but now lives in Clonakilty, doesn’t love the way society is headed when it comes to information and our relationship with truth. He is wary of those pulling the strings high up in the worlds of global politics and technology.
His next book, which he hopes to publish this summer, is based on a painting by Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch and is a story about how a good person is drawn into fascism, an ideology he says he is seeing more and more of today.
“There's nothing really as absurd as fascism,” he says.
“Technology is a huge tool for people who want to manipulate others into doing their will and this is creating a real danger in society. With advances in technology, people talk about how AI is going to take over, right? I'd be more worried about the people who invented the AI.”
Ó Buachalla has a profound love for Cork city. One of his most celebrated works, ‘Immram an Phréacháin’, is a long and epic poem depicting a journey through Cork city at night. For him, the place in which a person grows up in is “more than just blocks”, it’s a living culture that informs one’s entire life.
“It's a soup of culture and energy that has raised you,” he says.
“I mean, we see this with likes of James Joyce. Everything he’s done was about the place he grew up in. He wrote so much and it's all Dublin, apart from a little bit in Cork in ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’, but then his father was from Cork.
“So, you see somebody whose whole literary output is focused on this place that he grew up in and they gain so much of their creativity from this one place.
“A place can really inspire you to create something that kind of reminds you of it, or that spark.”
In a parting message to any aspiring young writers here on Leeside, Ó Buachalla says writing must be enjoyed and a book must be written for the sake of itself, free of external concerns such as success and acclaim.
He says: “Just write the book that's in you to write. If you have it in you to write a book, then you have to write it. You can't not write it. You're compelled to write if that is what's in you to do. And don't write with a sense of what will be accepted by corporate publishers or whatever. Try to be as unique as you can or as you want to be, as you feel that you should be.”