A Story of Shapers and the Rabble

Clare Champion (Section 2, page 27), Friday, 21st July 2006

Writer Ré Ó Laighléis is hoping that his latest book will give "A right kick up in the arts". The Ballyvaughan-based writer's satirical The Great Book of the Shapers, with the aforementioned subittle, was launched recently in Galway and is already causing quite a stir.

"The book really is a satire on the arts and it focuses particularly on the pretentious element of the arts. For every true artist, whether it be a painter, writer or musician, you have about 100 who are pretending to be. We all know this phenomena, but none of us will call it, really it's the Emperors New Clothes", he explained.

The book is set in fictional Slagway where there is a hierarchy of 'Shapers' and also 'The Rabble' - or the disenfranchised ordinary people. The plot is driven when these Rabble decide to join forces with another group and create an alternative arts world and to sabotage the Shapers' highlight of the arts calendar - the parade!

"It's irreverent and intentionally so. In general the book is about the disenfranchisement of the ordinary people where the arts are concerned. This book is a cry for the disenfranchised, which a lot of my work is about. It's a zany book, but as in every satire, of course, it is about truth. When you think of the fulfilling dimension of the arts in a person's life and to be deprived of that because the notion is nurtured that it is an elitist thing is an awful, awful thing to do to peope. If there are things in this life to be enjoyed then they should be made open. But people see the elitism of the arts and they feel they don't pertain to them, so almost by stealth the disenfranchisement happens", said Ré.

When urged to reveal which town Slagway is based on he insists, "Of course this book is not directed at anyone in particular, it is directed at a type. The town or city of Slagway is just a type. I have lived in many cities around the world at this stage and I have seen this as a common thread in all of them".

The Dublin native began writing while he was a teacher in Galway, creating stories for the children in his class. The stories he wrote placed his students right in the middle of the action and dealt with issues they were familiar with. "I found the material was very dry, unchallenging, unstimulating, intellectually and linguistically. I decided that maybe a monkey could do better than that so I said I'd try it", he laughed.

This soon brought him to the attention of publishers and while this book is written in English, Ré is the biggest selling contemporary writer in the Irish language. Surprisingly though, his parents did not speak Irish. "My mother had a smattering, they were very well disposed to Irish but like most people of their era, their schooling ended when they were maybe 12 years of age. In my family, if any of us were good at something we were encouraged very generously. I then got involved and committed to the language and the culture. I realised early on that it was a thing that was waning and was going to die imminently so I got involved in the language movement also", he said.

When asked it he has a preference for either language he explained, "When I begin to write I don't even think about what I'm doing. Generally, whatever language I begin in, I stay in".

Ré is currently busy preparing for the release of another book this Christmas titled An Nollaig sa Naigín. The book comprises of six stories seen through the eyes of a child in the years 1959 to 1963. However, while the book is set in the past, Ré explained that there are also many contemporary references. There are hopes that the book will be accompanied with a roadshow and CD.

And next year will see the launch of Battle for the Burren, the sequel to Terror on the Burren and part two of the trilogy. He is also toying with publishing a love story centred around the breakdown of an inter-cultural marriage.

"All of my writings certainly are very different, there are about 20 of them out there now. I suppose this is down to having a great visual memory - it's not a boast, it's a given. The seed of a thought can generate a whole story for me, sometimes a word or an expression can generate a novel. It's really just feeding off what one encounters in life. If you write, there is an awful lot of yourself in what you write. I think writers who say otherwise are quite frankly lying. I think that's impossible, if it comes from you, it's of you, and there must be some of you in it. I've had a varied life, some of it has been very joyous and some of it horribly unpleasant but I draw off everything", he revealed. "But I would never depict anyone I would know or any situation I would know of deliberately so that anyone was identifiable". Then he added, laughing, "That's the case even with the Slagways of this world. It could be just about anywhere, it could even be Bangladesh".

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