A Recovered Memory of Water

Publication Instance Details #773

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	Displacement/Forced Migration Health
Irish Context	Emigration (from Ireland) Irish Language/Culture Great Famine (Ireland)
Languages	English
Original Language	Irish
Original Poem	Cuimhne an Uisce
Original Author	Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Genre	Part Of Lyric Sequence
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	This sequence of poems, 'Na Murúcha a Thriomnaigh', makes use of the international folk tale of the mermaid to construct an allegorical world in which the merpeople have left the water and now live uneasily among humankind on land. The exact cause of their displacement is not specified in the sequence, although there is one reference to 'cineghlanadh' (ethnic cleansing). This poem reflects upon the culture shock and psychological trauma experienced by the mermaid as a result of her displacement. This is manifest in recurring psychotic episodes involving water described in the poem, the mermaid's inability to name and describe about water in her therapy sessions. The Great Famine and Irish cultural loss is often understood to be implicit in this sequence of poems, although other contexts could also be imagined.