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Aonghas Macneacail is regarded as the most eminent Gaelic-language poet in the generation following that of Derick Thomson and Sorley MacLean. Here he talks about the place of Gaelic poetry in modern Scottish writing, but extends the horizon of sources and influences into a European perspective with Gaelic as one of the many minority languages currently spoken in the EU. Following the aims and procedures of the Glasgow Group as established by Philip Hobsbaum, he identifies his main objective as lucidity in poetry, while defending poetry's right of free crossing between all languages - not only between English and Gaelic.
Keywords: Gaelic poetry; poetry in translation; minority languages; the Glasgow Group.
Macneacail has been nicknamed Aonghas Dubh, which means "Black Angus", probably because he has the commanding look of a Celtic bard - whatever Celtic bards might have looked like. He was born as Angus Nicholson in 1942 on the Isle of Skye, but uses the Gaelic equivalent of his name to reflect his Celtic origins. As Gaelic culture is becoming a curiosity in its own country and its survival gives rise to anxiety across Europe, it is no wonder that Trevor Royle's Mainstream Companion to Scottish Literature dubs him as "a tireless worker in the cause of promoting Gaelic". Macneacail's career as a poet, editor, dramatist, script writer, researcher, lecturer and journalist is a prime example that, by definition, a modern Gaelic poet has to invest at least as much energy in documenting, preserving and campaigning for Gaelic culture as in creative writing. He has toured Europe and North America, giving lectures and poetry readings, and has been associated with The Gaelic College on Skye since 1995.
He was educated at Glasgow University between 1968 and 1971, where he attended the meetings of Philip Hobsbaum's Glasgow Group. Beside the influence UOm his younger contemporaries, his poetic development has been shaped by the legacy of the great generation of Gaelic-language poets: Sorley MacLean, Derick Thomson (whose Introduction to Gaelic Poetry remains the best review of the subject to date), George Campbell Hay and lain Crichton Smith.
The following interview was conducted during the early spring of 2005 by correspondence. Responding to my provocative questions about the habit of printing parallel English and Gaelic texts,...