Manx literature

Literature in the Manx language, which shares common linguistic and cultural roots with the Gaelic literature and Pre-Christian Celtic mythology of Ireland and Scotland, is known from at least the early 16th century, when the majority of the population still belonged to the Catholic Church in the Isle of Man. Even so, Manx orthography departs so radically from Irish or Scottish Gaelic orthography that it is all but illegible to literate native speakers of both languages.

'Manannan's Cloak: An Anthology of Manx Literature' edited by Robert Corteen Carswell

Early works were often religious in theme, including translations of the Book of Common Prayer, the Bible, and original Anglican and Methodist hymns. Even though his allegedly chronic drinking and womanising caused considerable trouble with his superiors in the Church of England Diocese of Sodor and Man, Rev. Dr. Thomas Christian's literary translation and adaptation of Milton's Paradise Lost and his extant works of original poetry are considered masterpieces of the Manx literary language. Long after his death, many Manx people were reportedly able to quote long passages of Rev. Christian's poetry from memory.

After being discovered during the Victorian era by Anglo-German Celticist Charles Roeder, Cregneash fisherman and story-teller Edward Faragher (Manx: Ned Beg Hom Ruy); (1831–1908), published original poetry, stories, and literary translations, for which he is widely considered the last native speaker of Manx to become a major writer in the language. The historian A. W. Moore also collected many traditional Manx-language songs and ballads in publications towards the end of the 19th century.

Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh, the Manx Language Society, was founded at the end of the 19th century. The recent revival of Manx, the creation of the Eisteddfod-inspired Cooish literary and cultural festival, and the rise of Manx-medium education beginning with the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh has resulted in new original works and translations being published in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with particularly important authors including Brian Stowell (1936–2019), Colin Jerry (1936-2008), and Robert Corteen Carswell (born 1950).

Early literature

The earliest datable text in Manx (preserved in 18th century manuscripts), is the Manannan Ballad relates the history and the lives of the rulers of the Isle of Man from Manannán mac Lir, a deity from Celtic mythology, through the introduction of Christianity, until Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby during the Renaissance. It dates from Pre-Reformation times in the early 16th-century at the very latest.

Even though the Isle of Man was the birthplace of Elizabethan era Roman Catholic martyr Blessed Robert Anderton, the State-controlled Anglican Communion and nonconformist denominations eventually won the allegiance of the Manx people. This is why Manx orthography, which was developed by Anglican missionary clergymen who were native speakers of Elizabethan English and Middle Welsh, is so radically different from Irish or Scottish Gaelic orthography as to be illegible to speakers of both languages.

The island, whose people since the days of the Celtic Church had held a particularly strong devotion to Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid of Kildare, and Saint Maughold, saw the holy wells and other places of Christian pilgrimage slowly fall into ruin once the population no longer believed in the intercession of the saints. Anglicanism and particularly Methodism have since had an overwhelming influence upon literature in the Manx language. Surviving works of Christian poetry and carvals, hymns, like those of William Kinrade, Thomas Allen, and John Lewis, are very common, but surviving secular writing, like the extent works of late 18th-century privateer poet John Moore, is much rarer. This, however, was not entirely due to opposition from the clergy.

For example, after his gardener overheard him discussing the recently published Ossian poems of James Macpherson and admitted to knowing of Fionn and Oisín, Mark Hildesley, the Church of England Bishop of Sodor and Man, collected and wrote down from the local oral tradition multiple lays in Manx from the Fenian Cycle of Celtic Mythology, which were accordingly preserved for the future.

The New Testament in Manx was first published in 1767. The Book of Common Prayer and the Old Testament were translated into Manx and published in 1610 and again in 1765. The first Manx translation of the Christian Bible was printed between 1771 and 1775 and remains the reason why Manx orthography is radically different from both Irish and Scottish Gaelic orthography.

The Bible was a collective translation project undertaken by most of the Manx Anglican clergy under the editorship of Philip Moore. Further editions followed in 1777 and a revised edition by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1819. The tradition of (Manx: carvals), religious songs or carols, also developed, probably with its roots in the pre-Reformation Catholic Church in the Isle of Man. Until the 18th century, the authors of carvals were generally clergymen, but in the 19th century new words would be put to popular tunes for use in churches and Nonconformist chapels.

The first printed work in Manx, (Coyrle Sodjeh), dates from 1707: a translation of a Prayer Book catechism in English by Bishop Thomas Wilson.

While serving as Vicar of Marown, Rev. Dr. Thomas Christian produced the widely acclaimed Pargys Caillit, an English-Manx literary translation of John Milton's Paradise Lost was published in 1796. Although Dr. Christian's deliberate omissions of some lengthy portions and deliberate expansions of others have since received harsh criticism, they were widely felt by Manx readers to have greatly improved the narrative flow of Milton's original. Rev. Dr. Christian also wrote multiple carvals in the Manx language, of which Roish my row yn seihll shoh crooit ("Before this world was created"), is considered one of the finest ever composed.

19th century

Edward Faragher, (Neddy Beg Hom Ruy, 1831–1908) of Cregneash has been considered the last important native writer of Manx. From the age of 26, he wrote poetry, often Christian poetry, in Manx. Some of his verses were printed in the Mona's Herald and the Cork Eagle. Some of his stories are reminiscences of his life as a fisherman, and Skeealyn Aesop, translations of selected Aesop's Fables, were published in 1901.

Many traditional Manx language songs and ballads were collected by the antiquarian and historian A. W. Moore and published in his Manx Carols (1891) and Manx Ballads and Music (1896).

Modern literature

Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh (the Manx Language Society) has worked closely with Culture Vannin (formerly the Manx Heritage Foundation) in the publication of literature in the Manx language.

Much collection, publication, and preservation of the oral tradition was conducted by Colin Jerry, including the writing of a great deal of original satirical and comic literature.

With the revival of Manx, new literature has appeared, including Contoyryssyn Ealish ayns Cheer ny Yindyssyn, a Manx translation of Alice in Wonderland by Brian Stowell, published in 1990. In March 2006 the first full-length Manx novel was published: Dunveryssyn yn Tooder-Folley (The Vampire Murders), also by Brian Stowell.

The Aundyr Brian Stowell ("The Brian Stowell Award") was created in memory of Stowell's achievements. It is awarded by the Manx language group, Pobble, for any piece of creative work produced in Manx.

His autobiography Gaelg as Fishig: Skeeal my Vea ("Manx and Physics: The Story of my Life") was published posthumously in 2019.

See also

• Canadian Gaelic
• Classical Gaelic
• Gaelic literature
• Irish language outside Ireland
• Modern literature in Irish
• Literature in the other languages of Britain
• Scottish Gaelic literature
• Tuatha Dé Danann
• Turas

References

• Skeealyn 'sy Ghailck, Neddy Beg Hom Ruy, 1991