Mass of the Dead

Publication Instance Details #1520

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Weapons of Mass Destruction (incl. nuclear) War
War / Genocide Referenced	War: Second World War
Irish Context	Specific Irish place or place-name mentioned WW II (Ireland) Irish Language/Culture
Languages	English
Original Language	Irish
Original Poem	Aifreann na Marbh
Original Author	Eoghan Ó Tuairisc
Genre	Part Of Lyric Sequence
Medium	Print Anthology
Paratext Text	Died in Hiroshima Monday, 6th June, 1945 Transumanar significar per verba non si poria; però l'esmplo basti a cui esperïenza Grazia serba DANTE, Paradiso, I, 70-72
Notes	Eoghan Ó Tuairisc, translated here by Anna Ní Dhomhnaill and Aidan Hayes. One of the most significant works of twentieth-century Irish literature. Ó Tuairisc explores his grief for the people of Hiroshima through a journey through Dublin, which itself has been destroyed by the bomb, as have the people of Hiroshima. All of humanity has been implicated in the creation and use of the atomic bomb. Ó Tuairisc's poem contains a wealth of references: historical, cultural, cinematic, architectural, philosophical, mythological. The Celtic, Christian, and Classical traditions are here merged in an attempt to make sense of the greatest disaster of the twentieth century. The poem is a lyric sequence, structured almost identically to the pre-Vatican II Latin mass, with nine sections, all with Latin titles relating to an aspect of the mass. This translation comprises the first 3 sections of 'Aifreann na Marbh'.