An bhfuil Gaeilge agat? A simple question. So why do I hesitate before answering? Tá… but it's complicated. To those who don’t speak Irish, I probably sound pretty fluent. To native speakers from the Gaeltacht I imagine I sound reasonably competent, but with obvious gaps and pronunciation errors. I'm happiest talking to those who simply love the language and use it regularly enough to feel comfortable in their own linguistic skins. Just don't call me an Irish language enthusiast, or tell me you'd love to speak it yourself, but there was this teacher back in second class who... look. I told you it’s not straightforward.
It's that complexity, however, that makes The Colony a nuanced and fascinating read. Set on an island off the west coast of Ireland in the 1970s, the book follows two men, one French and one English who visit and indeed use the island for their own personal gain. Mr Lloyd is a visual artist, longing for isolation to help him create new work, while Jean Pierre Masson, his name beautifully shortened to 'JP’ by the locals is a linguist, keen to record the native islanders while Irish is still their first language.
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LIsten: The Colony reviewed on RTÉ Arena
But even on this isolated island, where you're as likely to catch a rabbit for dinner as eat shop-bought food from the mainland, English is creeping in, and not just via the radio in the corner. Although one of the oldest people on the island, Bean Uí Fhloinn still speaks only Irish, most of the rest of her family can either understand or speak English to varying degrees while the youngest member, Séamus is fully bilingual, wants to be known as James and is keen to leave island life behind.
Audrey Magee paints her characters with a deceptively light touch and there is plenty of humour in the novel, but she has also created rounded individuals and doesn’t allow her any of them to become cliches, not even the elderly Bean Uí Fhloinn who may well sound familiar to anyone who studied the work of a certain pipe smoking Blasket Islander for the Leaving Cert. There is great joy in the paragraphs showing the islanders politely feeding the visitors and then heading off for a walk to discuss how they really feel, while a clever use of Irish phrases alongside the English translation gives the novel an authentic feel that won't alienate any reader.
We learn more about Mr Lloyd, whose desire to paint supersedes any other relationship or commitment and JP ,who has come to the island armed with his tape recorder only to find that English words are washing in as inexorably as the tide. There's a neat revelation about the Frenchman's own past and an explanation as to why he has travelled so far to learn a language that has no connection with his own family story. He is not, however, a neutral observer, he wants the island to remain the same while the islanders are aware they do not live in a museum.
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Listen: Miriam O'Callaghan talks to author Audrey Magee
Threaded throughout this narrative is a list of atrocities being carried out in Northern Ireland at the same time. This list of names, events and horrific occurrences is very effective in rooting the book in a particular time and political space, and introduces other elements of colonialism and nationality. Stylistically however, I found these sections a little confusing. Mention is made of the islanders listening to the radio, but Magee's use of the present tense means these sections don't sound like conventional news stories, and the reader has to constantly shift gear in order to take in the information.
Back on the island, meanwhile, the visitors are getting ready to leave at summer's end but they leave behind an altered world. The final outcome feels inevitable, but is gently and skilfully revealed. Despite the specifics of the language issue this is a novel with international appeal and written with elegance and care. What I'd really love however is hear it discussed by native Irish speakers - if Raidió na Gaeltachta has a book club this should definitely be its next read.
