Understanding Ó Criomhthain as the mouthpiece of his community, as expressing only thoughts held in common with the other islanders, is perplexing in light of what he writes about himself, namely that he was engaged in producing literature. Partly the confusion seems to lie with critics’ understanding of the dynamics of orality and literacy. Ó Tuama’s statement that An tOileánach (The Islandman) “is more the biography of an island community than of a single islander” foregrounds Ó Criomhthain’s lifelong participation in the oral traditions of the Blasket, but overshadows his career as a writer, since he began writing during the later part of his life. Ó Criomhthain’s work does retain many elements of what Ong identifies as the psychodynamics of orality; however, it is a fundamental misunderstanding of orality to suppose that the individual has no place in it.

~ John Eastlake, “Orality and Agency: Reading an Irish Autobiography from the Great Blasket Island”

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