Gerald Griffinジェラルド・グリフィン / 1803-40

アイルランドの劇作家、小説家、詩人。1803年リムリック (Limerick) に生まれる。1823年に劇作家になろうとロンドンへ渡るが、処女作 The Tragedy of Aguire(今は残っていない)はマクリーディ (William Macready) に拒否され、極貧生活を送る。唯一残る戯曲Gisippus (1842) は、グリフィンの死後、マクリーディによりドルリーレーン劇場で上演され、成功を収める。

 

信頼する友人ジョン・ベーニム (John Banim) の Tales by the O’Hara Family (1825) に触発され、戯曲から地方を描く小説に転向し、Holland-Tide (1827) を書く。この頃からダブリンとロンドンを行き来する生活を送る。

 

1829年、彼の子供時代にカトリック社会に起きた殺人事件から着想を得た犯罪小説 The Collegians を出版。その後も、The Rivals (1829)、Tracy’s Ambition (1829)、The Duke of Monmouth (1836) を執筆。また、Tales of Munster Festivals (1827)、Tales of My Neighbourhood (1835)、Talis Qualis, or Tales of the Jury Room (1842) などの短編集も書いている。

 

詩作となると、小説ほどの成功は収めなかったが、有名な ‘Aileen Aroon’ はテニスン (Alfred Tennyson) に絶賛されることとなる。 (N. M.)

Irish playwright, novelist and poet, born in Limerick in 1803. In 1823 he left for London to become a dramatist. His first play, The Tragedy of Aguire (now lost), was rejected by William Macready, and Griffin lived in extreme poverty for a while. His only surviving play, Gisippus (1842), was posthumously produced by Macready at Drury Lane and gained success.

 

Impressed by Tales by the O’Hara Family (1825) written by his trustworthy friend John Banim, Griffin moved from drama to fiction, and produced a set of regional stories, Holland-Tide (1827). During that time, he began to live in Dublin, moving between there and London.

 

In 1829, he published a crime story, The Collegians, which draws on a murder committed in Irish Catholic society in his childhood. Later novels include The Rivals (1829), Tracy’s Ambition (1829), and The Duke of Monmouth (1836). He also produced further sets of stories: Tales of Munster Festivals (1827), Tales of My Neighbourhood (1835), and Talis Qualis, or Tales of the Jury Room (1842).

 

His poetry gained less success than his novels, though Tennyson intensely expressed his admiration for the well-known ballad, ‘Aileen Aroon’.    (N. M.)

原詩(PDF)

  • 1. The Bridal of Malahide

訳詩(PDF)

  • 1. マラハイドの婚礼

原詩出典

* The Poetical Works of Gerald Griffin. London, 1842.