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language: Irish
country: Ireland
year: 1943
form: novel
genre(s): science fiction
series: Réics Carló, #1
dates read: 11.7.24-12.7.24
Cathal Ó Sándair’s Na Mairbh a d’Fhill (published in 1943) tragically, despite its title, does not involve necromancy. it is, instead, a pretty typical adventure novel (with detective elements), with a lost race plot that manages not to be racist by having the (literal) Atlanteans be white and worship Poseidon. fortunately, the private detective Réics Carló is on the case and ready to stop their plans for world domination.
the Atlanteans once ruled a vast Atlantic empire that was destroyed in a series of earthquakes/tsunami that left the remnants of their civilization trapped in the undersea tunnels they had built connecting Atlantis itself with the northwestern fringe of the European part of their empire — namely, Ireland. the result is that they have spent the past several thousand years slowly tunneling their way to a small island off the coast of Ireland, finally breaking the surface in 1938. they kidnapped an Irish-speaking tourist, used him to learn Irish, and now are planning to steal the plans — currently being developed in Dublin by the scientist Dr. Leon as a way to protect Irish neutrality — for some technology or substance that can make aircraft invisible. with this and a fleet of stolen aircraft, the Atlantean high priest It-Samna intends to reestablish the ancient Atlantean empire, now extending across the entire world.
it’s fun! unintentionally silly at times — I’m still not over the narration describing a police motorcycle as traveling “cúpla míle sa soicind” (a couple of miles per second) — but for the most part just a pretty solid adventure narrative with some light sci-fi elements. and a pretty detailed execution scene and a pretty detailed torture scene. but Réics ends up with a gay little sidekick (the kidnapped tourist, who’s been living as a prisoner in Atlantis for five years, since he was a teenager), so that’s fun.
it’s also a fascinating document of the times, and a testament to the absurdity of “patriotism” — the characters repeatedly invoke the safety (and neutrality) of Ireland as the motivation for their resistance to the Atlanteans’ scheme, which in a context where the Atlanteans’ goal is world domination and the reestablishment of an empire just seems like…that’s what’s motivating you? nothing else?
I also suspect that we are meant to see parallels between the Atlanteans and the British Empire — a once ocean-spanning polity now reduced to a single island (or archipelago) where it must cower in the shadows until it can acquire better / more powerful military technology from elsewhere in order to reassert its dominance. hmmmmmmm.
in any case, I’m looking forward to the rest of the books, and I need An Gúm to republish the Captaen Spéirling books.
moods: adventurous