The Aran Islands

More about the book

The Aran Islands lie off the coast of Ireland. In J. M. Synge's time they could be cut off from the mainland by pounding seas and swirling mists for weeks. Many the time the steamer from Galway Bay had to turn back. The great Irish playwright went there to cure his chronic asthma first in 1898, making five sojourns to the islands until 1922. In 1907 he wrote this book about the islands and the customs of the islanders. The compelling analysis he made has been highly influential through the decades, encouraging others to write on the Blasket culture. This year a new museum dedicated to Synge has been opened on the main island, Inis Mor.