SHORTLISTED FOR THE ONSIDE NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 The
islands off the coast of Ireland have long been a source of
fascination. Seen as repositories of an ancient Irish culture and
the epitome of Irish romanticism, they have attracted generations
of scholars, artists and filmmakers, from James Joyce to Robert
O'Flaherty, looking for a way of life uncontaminated by modernity
or materialism. But the reality for islanders has been a lot more
complex. They faced poverty, hardship and official hostility, even
while being expected to preserve an ancient culture and way of
life. Writing in her 1936 autobiography, Peig Sayers, resident of
Blaskets island, described it as 'this dreadful rock'. In 1841,
there were 211 inhabited islands with a combined population of
38,000; by 2011, only 64 islands were inhabited, with a total
population of 8,500. And younger generations continue to leave. By
documenting the island experiences and the social, cultural and
political reaction to them over the last 100 years, On the Edge
examines why this exodus has happened, and the gulf between the
rhetoric that elevated island life and the reality of the political
hostility towards them.It uncovers, through state and private
archives, personal memoirs, newspaper coverage, and the author's
personal travels, the realities behind the "dreadful rocks", and
the significance of the experiences of, and reactions to, those who
were and remain, literally, on the very edge of European
civilisation.
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