Peadar Ua Laoghaire

Peadar Ua Laoghaire (IPA-ga|ˈpʲad̪ˠəɾˠ uə ˈl̪ˠeːɾʲə; also Peadar Ó Laoghaire, sometimes known in English as Peter O'Leary; April 1839–21 March 1920 [ [http://www.askaboutireland.ie/show_narrative_page.do?page_id=1911 An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire] ] ) was an Irish writer and Catholic priest, who is regarded today as one of the founders of modern literature in Irish. He was born in the parish of Clondrohid, County Cork, and grew up speaking Munster Irish in the Muskerry Gaeltacht.cite book| last=Welch| first=Robert| title=Oxford Concise Companion to Irish Literature| publisher=Oxford University Press| id=ISBN 0-19-280080-9| year=1996]

He attended St Patrick's College, Maynooth and was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in 1867. He became a parish priest in Castlelyons in 1891, and it was there that he wrote his most famous story, "Séadna", and told it as a fireside story to three little girls. It was published in 1907. The plot of the story concerns a deal that the tailor Séadna struck with "the Dark Man". Although the story is rooted in the folklore the writer heard from shanachies by the fire during his youth, it is also closely related to the German legend of Faust. It was first published as a serial in various Irish-language magazines.

Apart from "Séadna", Ua Laoghaoire wrote an autobiography called _ga. "Mo Scéal Féin" ("My Own Story"). In addition, he translated some stories of medieval Gaelic literature into modern Irish, such as "Eisirt" and "An Cleasaí", and translated an abridged version of the story of Don Quixote into his local dialect of Irish.

He died in Castlelyons at the age of 80.

References

:"This page includes material translated from the corresponding article at the Irish Wikipedia as of 7 October 2007.

External links

*" [oldwikisource:Séadna|Séadna] " at wikisource.org

Persondata
NAME = Ua Laoghaire, Peadar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Ó Laoghaire, Peadar; O'Leary, Peter (English)
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Irish writer
DATE OF BIRTH = April 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH = Clondrohid, County Cork, Ireland
DATE OF DEATH = 1920-03-21
PLACE OF DEATH = Castlelyons, County Cork, Ireland