Tributes have poured in for the past 24-hours for the renowned poet and translator – file agus aistritheoir – Gabriel Rosenstock who died aged 76 yesterday. Fear a chreid “i gcumhacht na filíochta” a dhúirt a chlann.
He was a member of Aosdána and served as chairman of Poetry Ireland.
President Catherine Connolly said that she joined “with all those who have expressed such sadness on learning of the death of the poet, translator, playwright and writer of so many different forms, Gabriel Rosenstock.”
“Those titles alone could never capture the extent of the contribution which Gabriel made over the course of his life,” she said. “Across an extraordinary career, he made a particularly special contribution to the Irish language, leaving not only a broad body of his own work, but also a remarkably diverse set of translations, through which he brought so many of the great writers of the world to the Irish language.”
A chlann a dheimhnigh a bhás i ráiteas a dhuirt “fhile idirnáisiúnta a chuir go leor de mhórscríbhneoirí na cruinne faoi shúile lucht léitheoireachta na Gaeilge”.
Chreid sé “i gcumhacht na filíochta” a dúirt siad “agus i gcumas na filíochta droichead a thógáil idir cultúir”.
“Anam torthúil agus corrach a bhí aige a d’fhoilsigh breis is 400 leabhar.
Dúirt COMHAR: “Déanann COMHAR comhbhrón ó chroí le Tristan Rosenstock, Eagarthóir Liteartha ‘Comhar’ agus lena theaghlach uilig, ar bhás Gabriel, a athair dil, file iomráiteach, údar bisiúil, aistritheoir ceannródúil & eagarthóir ildánach. Suaimhneas síoraí dó.”
“Is boichte Éigse Éireann inniu.”
Gabriel Rosenstock came from Kilfinane in County Limerick but lived for most of his life in Dublin, where he worked with the Irish language publisher An Gúm.
Over the course of his life he published more than 400 books, the majority of them in Irish, among them works of poetry, translations, novels, prose and spiritual essays.
He is survived by his wife Eithne, two daughters, Saffron and Héilean, and a son, Tristan. Another daughter, Éabha, passed away around this time four years ago.
Aréir craolaíodh clár a rinne Gabriel lena mhac Tristan do RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta – An Fear Nár Saolaíodh Riamh (The Man Who Was Never Born) – agus iad ag plé an dialann a bhí á choiméad aige, agus ceisteanna móra an tsaoil.
Rosenstock said that he was deeply moved by the line from Seán Ó Riada’s hymn ‘Ag Críost an Síol’ — ‘ní críoch ach ath-fhás’ (not an end but a regrowth). Tháinig an teideal don chlár ó scríobhnaí an fealsúnaí Indiach Osho, a dhúirt: ‘never born, never died’.
Dúirt sé lena mhac gur botún a bhí ann d’fhile scríobh chun pobal a shásaigh, ach an rud a bhí istigh a scaoileadh.
