Intertextuality is one of the defining features of Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s writing. It is most often discussed with reference to Cré na Cille (1949), and in his pioneering study Carnabhal na Marbh (2023), Radvan Markus employs Umberto Eco’s (2004) concept of ‘intertextual irony’ to explain the importance of intertextual references in the novel. Intertextual irony allows the curious reader to read the text in a new way by connecting threads of the various references.
Ó Cadhain’s use of intertextuality as a literary technique does not only arise with Cré na Cille, however, and is clearly present across his other works. This article critically reassesses ‘Fóide Cnapánacha Carracha Uachtar an Bhaile’ (translated by Eoghan Ó Tuairisc as ‘The Gnarled and Stony Clods of Townland’s Tip’ ), a story from his first collection Idir Shúgradh agus Dáiríre (1939). Through the use of intertextual irony as a critical lens, this analysis demonstrates new interpretive possibilities for this story. This is timely considering the huge cultural changes that have taken place since the story was first published, different reading practices, and the context of an ongoing reappraisal of Ó Cadhain’s early fiction. In the words of Eco, ‘Intertextual irony calls together the happy few—except that the more there are of these happy few, the happier they will be’ (2004: 228). That is the goal of this article.
Focusing on references to traditional song practice, the analysis looks anew at the comparison between Ó Cadhain’s story and ‘Bríd na nAmhrán’ (‘Bríd of the Songs’) by P.H. Pearse. An intertextual reference in ‘Fóide’ that has hitherto escaped the attention of critics is then uncovered which breathes new life into the Ossianic metaphor central to the story’s characterisation. Connections with stories from Ó Cadhain’s second collection, An Braon Broghach (1948) are explored demonstrating that ‘Fóide’ functions as an important link in Ó Cadhain’s literary imagination. Finally, the analysis asserts that the story demonstrates the earliest representation in Ó Cadhain’s work of his thoughts concerning the displacement of traditional culture, which would develop into the concept of the ‘Delargean lament’ which was coined in the renowned lecture ‘Béaloideas’ in February 1950.
