Event Summary Book Club 鈥淭ranslations鈥� 鈥� 25 October 2020
This was our first book club event with 19 participants joining us from all over the globe as far as Canada, Egypt and Ukraine. Rioc谩rd 脫 hOddail gave a very interesting talk about the Irish language, the background of the play and its significance today. This was followed by a lively discussion which easily could have gone on for much longer than the hour we had allocated. It was especially fascinating to share different viewpoints and experiences with regards to language and identity. Thank you very much to all who attended.
Join members of the Midlands Network for a book club night via Zoom. You are invited to read the play 鈥淭ranslations鈥�, a modern classic by the Irish author Brian Friel (1929-2015) and then join in a remote meeting on Zoom to discuss the play and reflect on its message.
The play deals with what the Irish novelist Colm T贸ib铆n calls 鈥渢he clash between language and culture鈥�. The main setting is a hedge school in Donegal, Ireland, in 1833, a time when the majority of the population in the country spoke Irish (Gaelic) but an English-language national education system was being introduced. British soldiers who are carrying out an ordnance survey involving the anglicisation of place names come to the fictional town of Baile Beag (Ballybeg) where residents react in very different ways to the undertaking. As one of the characters states, 鈥淚t鈥檚 only a name. It鈥檚 the same me, isn鈥檛 it? Well, isn鈥檛 it?鈥�.
If you would rather listen to the play, you can find it here: .
The Zoom meeting will be on Sunday 25聽October at 5pm聽so please make sure you have read or listened to the play before then. You will receive a link to join the meeting by email, together with a few discussion questions to think about if you wish. Feel free to bring a glass of something to the discussion! We aim to recreate a face-to-face book club as closely as possible.
Please email midlands@ciol.org.uk to book your place
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