Peig is known for its numerous sean fhocail, ‘old sayings’. The text is heavily underlined where I needed to note important passages. I still have my copy of Peig written in the Gaelic script and when I open it now I’m transported back to my teenage years.
In later editions the Roman script is used and the letter ‘h’ is inserted where there was once a dot over the consonant: Seanbhean is ea mise anois go bhfuil cos lei insan uaigh is a cos eile ar a bruach. The opening lines of Peig (I am an old woman now, with one foot in the grave and the other on its edge) read in the Gaelic script Seanbean is ea mise anois go bfuil cos lei insan uaig is a cos eile ar a bruac. The transition from Gaelic to Roman typeface in Irish textbooks happened in the late nineteen sixties. This ‘dot’ over the consonant was replaced by the letter ‘h’ when using the Roman script. A special symbol was needed over some consonants for grammatical purposes. The Gaelic script letters were more ornate. The Gaelic script was used in Irish textbooks from Irish Independence as part of the government’s campaign to restore Irish identity after centuries of English influence. Instead, my experience was of the words on the page enhanced by the beauty of the Gaelic script that I had learned to read and write from the age of five. It was before the Oral Irish exam element included the text, so I was not obliged to learn tracts of Peig off by heart. I studied Peig for my Leaving Certificate. In both cases my reading was stopped in its tracks from wonderment at the imagery. In front of the low horizontal limb of a giant sycamore there is an ash pile made by many fires the limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it. I was as struck by this poetic description of near death as I was of John Steinbeck’s description in Of Mice and Men that I was reading at the same time I never read the book in translation, so my first experience of Peig was ‘ Seanbhean is ea mise anois go bhfuil cos lei insan uaigh is a cos eile ar a bruach’. Had I known in advance half, or even one-third, of what the future had in store for me, my heart wouldn’t have been as gay or as courageous it was in the beginning of my days. I have experienced much ease and much hardship from the day I was born until this very day. I am an old woman now, with one foot in the grave and the other on its edge. The opening lines of Peig (in translation) are often cited as an example of the dreariness of the book: No matter what our personal view of the book might be, there is a sense that one has only to mention the name Peig Sayers to a certain age group and one will see a dramatic rolling of the eyes, or worse. As late as 2006, however, the unsuitability of the book as a school text was the subject of a discussion in the Irish Senate:
Subsequently Peig became required reading in Irish secondary schools and it was there in 1966 that I found Peig and loved her story, studying it from 1966-1968. On the instigation of a Dublin teacher who was a regular visitor to the Blaskets, Peig dictated her life story to her son who in turn sent the manuscript to the Dublin teacher. She became known as a storyteller as was her father before her. Kerry and moved to the Blasket Island in 1892 when she married. Peig Sayers was born in 1873 in Dunquin, Co. Peig for me, however, has been a source of comfort and joy all my life, but my response is such a minority one that I took to reading Peig again recently to see if I should change my mind. Readers’ comments included: ‘scarred for life’, ‘traumatised’, ‘resulting in cold sweats’, ‘grim’, ‘one long whinge’. Just a year ago it was a talking point for Ireland’s TodayFM radio program in a segment titled ‘The Best Reaction from Listeners Traumatised by Peig’. The Irish language book Peig is one of those text books that overwhelmingly elicit a negative response. A Feature on Irish Language Learning and Loving Peig by Dymphna Lonergan
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