Cré na Cille

Cré na Cille literally means "Earth of the Church"; it has also been translated as Graveyard Clay,^[2] Graveyard Soil,^[3] Graveyard Earth,^[4] Church and Clay^[5] and The Dirty Dust.^[6]

The novel is written almost entirely as conversation between dead characters who are buried in a Connemara graveyard. The talk is full of gossip, backbiting, flirting, feuds, and scandal-mongering.^[7]

The novel is considered a masterpiece of 20th century Irish literature and has drawn comparisons to the work of Flann O’Brien, Samuel Beckett, and James Joyce.^[8][9] In its serialised form, Cré na Cille was read aloud and gained classic status among Irish speakers.^[10][11] Cian Ó hÉigeartaigh, co-author of Sáirséal agus Dill, 1947-1981, claims that it invigorated the revival of Irish language writing in the 20th century.^[12]

Cré na Cille was serialised by The Irish Press newspaper and then published by Sáirséal agus Dill in 1949.^[13]

It was translated into Norwegian by Professor Jan Erik Rekdal and published in 1995 by Gyldendal Norsk Forlag as Kirkegårdsjord - gjenfortellinger i ti mellomspill, and translated into Danish by Ole Munch-Pedersen and published in 2000 by Husets Forlag as Kirkegårdsjord - genfortælling i ti mellemspil.^[14][15]

English translations of the novel were published in 2015 by Yale University Press and in 2016 by Cló Iar-Chonnacht. The first translation, The Dirty Dust, was by Alan Titley; the second, Graveyard Clay, was by Liam Mac Con Iomaire and the British cartographer Tim Robinson. An earlier translation by Joan Keefe was completed in 1984 as a doctoral dissertation, but never published.^[16]

The lack of an English translation for such a long period of time after the book’s first publication became part of its renown and was a matter of speculation.^[17] Three early attempts at translation by publisher Sáirséal agus Dill were thwarted, the first when the young woman selected as the translator joined a convent, the second by the refusal of the poet Thomas Kinsella, and the third by an unsatisfactory effort by a former prison-mate of Ó Cadhain's.^[18]