I OFTEN WONDER what Brian would say if he returned and saw that students in America and Europe were writing theses on his work. In his own time he made fun of all the scrutiny and analysis that surrounded the work of James Joyce. Brian’s manuscripts have been bought by the Americans and most of them are in safe keeping in American universities. I myself do not believe that Brian will ever become the subject of as much study as Joyce and Yeats are – he is not sufficiently mellow. There is not sufficient difficulty, obscurity and doubtful references in his writing to provide food for research by swarms of ‘literary beetles’! The romantic tales and poetic Gaelic place-names often peep over the hedge in the English of Joyce and Yeats like strange flowers from another garden. Brian’s work is quite different – he knew both languages well from childhood, he wrote in both as suited him but he kept them separated from one another. Like the Gael always, as compared to the Anglo-Gael, his speech is hard and direct without any wisps of Celtic mist floating around his words.

There are other reasons why he should not be treated like a body on an operating table for exploration by the ‘literary beetles’. There is no need to explain real humour; to do so is to spoil it. I have seen articles running to a couple of thousand words of tortuous terminology to explain something, when an author’s flash of humour has already lit up the sky like a flash of lightning! It occurs to me to question the right of the blind to be tutoring those who can see perfectly. It would matter little, all this heavy study and ‘scholarship’, were it not for the fact that it frequently misleads ordinary readers.

I have read repeatedly that An Béal Bocht is a satire – it is nothing of the kind. Common sense and evidence of the author’s enjoyment of his regular visits to the Gaeltacht preclude any suggestion of a parody on the Gaeltacht or its people.

People often ask – if An Béal Bocht is not satire, then what is it? I would see it as a piece of natural exuberance – fun for the sake of fun – like the playfulness of a puppy! But people of deep learning are always searching for other meanings behind something that is simple and easy to understand in the first place. It is a pity they do not ask themselves what motivates them to keep seeking ‘hidden’ meanings; then we might be rid of them for once and for all! A spontaneous laugh, whether caused by simple happiness or the recall of an amusing incident, according to the ‘experts’ merits immediate and thorough investigation.

An Béal Bocht was written by Brian when he was young and had that rapier-like sense of humour which made its first appearance in Blather. He had been reading or re-reading An t-Oileánach at the time and this was a book which he very much admired, so An Béal Bocht has its roots in exuberance, not malice.