Obituary and profile and links to my former town of Carrick-on-Suir.

Hello again to all out there in blogland. It's been a while since I posted an entry to this blog. On this occasion, I want to briefly take a sidestep from my usual writings about Translation Studies-related matters, in order to bring to your attention a very professional blog about my native town of Carrick-on-Suir in Co. Tipperary, in the south-east of Ireland, situated midway between Waterford and Clonmel. The blog has been created by webmaster and Carrick native, Mr Robert Glascott, and it tells you a lot about my town, all it has to offer, photos, links, and of course, profiles of all its many clubs, and individual people, including my late father, Frank O'Driscoll. I set out hereunder a copy of my late father's profile on this site, as he was a wonderful man and brilliant father who inspired me in so many ways, including in my choice of a local government career and my later choice of a literary, academic career.
I also have posted my own profile from the site.
Please take a few minutes to have a look at the overall site, its photos, audio links, etc.
Carrick is a multi-talented, diverse community.
So here goes with the website link and the profile of my late, beloved father Frank O'Driscoll who we lost in 1994, and who is always with us in spirit, looking after my brothers and I as is my late mother, Nora..

Carrick on Suir Official Website



Home Carrick People People of Note

Frank O Driscoll - Town Clerk, Philanthropist, Linguist, Writer (J.F. O'Driscoll)

Frank (John Francis) O' Driscoll was born on 6th April, 1927, in William Street, Carrick-on-Suir. He was the eldest of the four children of Edward O'Driscoll, barber, and of his wife Alice (née Reck), dressmaker.

Frank excelled at school, especially in English and Latin, and following his Leaving Certificate in the mid-1940s, at a time when few people did the Leaving, he started work as a Clerical Officer in South Tipperary County Council, Clonmel, in about 1945. This was the beginning of a lifelong career in local government, spanning over 47 years. He was appointed Town Clerk of Carrick, his native town, in April 1971, where he served until his retirement in April, 1992.

His achievements as Town Clerk were many, and he was highly dedicated to the service and betterment of his native town. His time as Town Clerk saw the construction of much new local authority and private housing, including co-operative housing schemes, such as Clairin and Lissadell among many others; the provision of a new library and of the Sean Kelly Centre, new water supply facilities and remedial works to local authority housing in the town. He also brought the Town Twinning to Carrick (French town of Trégunc in Brittany) and made many visits to our French twin town over the years, as well as hosting many French visitors in his home at Woodland Heights.

Frank was also a very cultured man; he had a huge collection of rare, inherited books, including the works of such classic writers as Dickens, Shakespeare and many others, and was an avid reader, and lover of the English language and its literature.

He was also a gifted writer, who contributed many appreciations of notable Carrick deceased persons over the years to his local papers, and who also wrote the 'Carrick Notes' for many years. If Frank had not gone into local government, he would have made a gifted academic of English, or indeed a diplomat.

He studied French and Piano from his late forties onwards, on both a self-taught and class basis, and was highly dedicated to the study of these subjects.

He was a prominent and gifted member of the local Drama Society and Musical Society, and of the local Friary Choir, for many years. He was also a member of a local poetry group, and of the Lions Club and Social and Literary Club. Snooker was one of his great hobbies in the latter club. He was a sincere, kind, sociable, well-loved and cultivated gentleman.

After retiring from the local government service in 1992, he became Arts Officer with South Tipperary County Council, an ideal outlet for a man of his cultural and artistic leanings.

Tragically, his life was cut short at age 67 by his sudden death in May, 1994, just five months after the death from cancer of his beloved wife, Nora (née Slattery), formerly of Coolacussane, Dundrum, Co. Tipperary, Cork and London. Nora had been a State Registered Nurse and State Certified Midwife in London, Cashel and Carrick-on-Suir.

Frank and Nora were the loving and devoted parents of Kieran (Dublin), Neil (Kilkenny) and John (Carrick-on-Suir), by whom they will always be very sadly missed, though these sons are grateful and privileged for the years they had with Frank and Nora as their parents.

Frank's sister Mary (England) died in 2006, and his brother Henry (England) died in 2010. He is survived by his one remaining brother, Colm (Southampton, England). Frank's mother Alice actually outlived him, and died at age 96 in 1999.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dilis.


Dr. Kieran O Driscoll - Academic Scholar, Lecturer and Author

Profile:

Dr. Kieran O'Driscoll, originally from William Street and Woodland Heights, Carrick-on-Suir, and now living in Dublin, is a mature graduate (aged 47) in French Studies, French and English literature and translation, Spanish, Translation Studies, Public Administration and International Marketing Communications, and a former local government official.

He is educated to doctoral level and has recently completed PhD research in French-English literary translation, graduating in 2010 with his doctorate from Dublin City University. He has also taught extensively, and has worked within the local authority service for over seventeen years, with extensive experience of customer service in such Departments of South Tipperary County Council, Clonmel, as Motor Taxation, Personnel, Rates, Registration of Electors, Housing, Accounts, Higher Education Grants and Freedom of Information. He has won a number of academic awards for scholarly achievements in French, Spanish, Marketing, and Translation Studies, in both Waterford IT and Dublin City University. Kieran's father Frank O'Driscoll RIP had also worked in local government for many years, and was Town Clerk in Carrick for over 21 years; Frank's profile is also on this site. Kieran's brother John, lives in Woodland Heights, Carrick, and his brother Neil, in Kilkenny.

When living in Carrick, Kieran was organist with the St Mollerans' Parish Choir from 1986 to 1996, and was also involved over the years with drama and musicals locally, with Meals on Wheels and church reading.

Kieran lived in Carrick up to the age of 41 (in 2004), whis was when he moved to Dublin to pursue his postgraduate studies of French translation as a mature student. He liked Dublin so much that he decided to sell his home in William Street in Carrick, in which he had lived with and cared for his beloved grandmother Lal for many years up to her death in 1999 at age 96. Kieran loves Dublin, but Carrick 'will always be part of me'.

When in Carrick, Kieran was educated in the Green School and the Monastery, and later in Waterford IT and the Institute of Public Administration, Dublin, by Distance Education.
Kieran took Special Leave without Pay from the local authority service, in 1998, to study languages and business, later resigning from the service to gain experience of teaching and academic research.

Kieran holds a First Class Honours Masters degree in Translation Studies (French and English) from Dublin City University (DCU), First Class Honours Bachelor of Arts degree (French, Spanish and Marketing) from Waterford Institute of Technology and Distinction in National Diploma in Business Studies (Languages and Marketing), W.I.T and he also holds PhD in literary translation, French to English, of the works of Jules Verne, the French science-fiction and adventure writer of the 1800s, a PhD awarded by DCU. Kieran has done much published professional literary translation (French to English) for the North American Jules Verne Society (NAJVS), and for European book fairs. He has given many lectures on his research and his conference papers and seminars are as follows:

Papers in conference proceedings

2007 ‘Around the World in Eighty Changes: Translating Jules Verne, 1873-2004’ Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the North American Jules Verne Society, 2007, Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, 7th-10th June, 2007.

2008 ‘Translating Jules Verne, and Forging the Verne Translator’s Identity: A Diachronic Study of Complex Emergence of the Text, and Interacting Causes of Translation’ International Conference on Forging Identities: Past into Present Identity Construction through language, culture and literature from the 18th to the 21st century in Ireland and Europe, Dublin City University, February 15th-16th, 2008.

2008 ‘A diachronic study of translations into English of Jules Verne’s Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-vingts Jours 1873-2004: multiple causation, non-linear dynamics of translation, and contesting the Retranslation Hypothesis through norm theory, Bourdieusian sociological perspectives and post-structural interpretation’. Translation in Second Language Teaching and Learning: International Translation Studies Conference, N.U.I. Maynooth and UCD, held at NUI Maynooth, 27th-29th March, 2008.

2008 ‘Retranslation causality – the example of Jules Verne as rendered into English’. Postgraduate Conference in Translation and Textual Studies, Dublin City University and Herriott-Watt University, Edinburgh, held at DCU, 5th-6th June, 2009.

2008 ‘Reinterpreting, renarrating, reframing Jules Verne’. Postgraduate Conference in Translation and Interpreting Studies, University of Manchester, 30th June-1st July, 2009.

2008 ‘Retranslating, renarrating, reframing, reinterpreting Jules Verne: examining retranslations of Around the World in 80 Days (1873) from 1873 to 2004 – reviewing multiple causation of retranslation decisions, with an emphasis on the efficient cause of translatorial agency and the formal cause of linguistic, literary and translational norms’. 2008 CETRA Doctoral Summer School in Literary Translation and Interpreting Studies, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, 18-30th August, 2008.

2008 ‘Reading literature in translation – pitfalls and possibilities: the example of Jules Verne’. 1st Postgraduate Conference on Comparative Literature, Dublin City University, 1st November, 2008.

2009 ‘Taking the child reader on an extraordinary journey into the world of Verne literature: studying translational adapted versions of Verne in English’. Eaton Science-Fiction Foundation Conference on Verne. University of Riverside, California, 28th-30th April, 2009.

Research seminars

2007 ‘Around the world in eighty changes: Translating Jules Verne 1873-2004’. Research seminar for postgraduate students and lecturers of the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS), held at Dublin City University, 8th March, 2007.
2008 ‘Around the world in eighty changes II: Translational sequels: Translating Jules Verne’s Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingts Jours (1873) 1873-2004: Exploring multiple causation, complex emergence, and reading a gay subtext into the source novel’. Research seminar for postgraduate students and lecturers of the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS), held at Dublin City University, 28th February, 2008.

2008 ‘A journey to the centre of the extraordinary world of Jules Verne: Introducing classic literature to groups of readers with specific needs and expectations; studying adapted and abridged translations of Verne in English’. Research seminar for postgraduate students and lecturers of the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS), Dublin City University, 23rd October, 2008.

Reviews

Kieran is currently reviewing the edited collection Translation and Censorship (2009) for the journal Translation Ireland. Review accepted for publication by peer reviewers.

Kieran is also currently reviewing two further monographs (reviews commissioned) on translation studies-related topics, for future submission to journals.

External Guest Lectures

2009 ‘Translation as a bridge to the Other literary text’. Annual General Meeting of the Irish Translators and Interpreters Association. Irish Writers’ Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin 1, 26th May, 2009.

2009 ‘The Afternoon of a Faun: reading Mallarmé in his original French, prior to the act of poetic translation.’ International Translation Day, celebratory evening, Irish Translators and Interpreters Association, Irish Writers’ Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin 1, 30th September, 2009.

Further information:

Kieran is a qualified teacher of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) having achieved distinction in TEFL 60-hour certificate.

He has fluent French and Spanish. He holds a TEFL teaching qualification, and a Certificate of ‘Perfectionnement’ level in all aspects of French from IMEF, (Institute Montpéllierain d’Etudes Françaises), Montpellier, France. His M.A. and PhD qualify him to also lecture in Irish Institutes of Technology and within universities. He has taught French, Spanish, English and Translation Studies in several schools and colleges in Waterford and Dublin and would love at some stage to teach in France, as this is a country he loves.

He has published the following material, including a forthcoming book:

Books authored

Monograph recently accepted by Peter Lang and Co., scholarly publishers, London, based on my doctoral thesis, a book provisionally entitled Retranslation through the centuries: the example of Jules Verne. Due to be published later in 2010.

Chapters in books

‘Translating Founding Mick’ – essay for Royal Irish Academy’s 2008 republication of Jules Verne’s novel The extraordinary adventures of Foundling Mick, original title P’tit Bonhomme (1893)
‘Putting White to Rights: reinstating the reputation of the Victorian Verne translator, Stephen W. White’ IN Verne, J. 1873 The Tour of the World in Eighty Days. 1873/1874/2010. Choptank Press, MS, USA. This book’s contents may be viewed at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-tour-of-the-world-in-eighty-days/7821661.

‘Introduction to republication of The Tour of the World in Eighty Days’ IN The Tour of the World in Eighty Days. 1873/1874/2010.. Co-authored with Dr Norman Wolcott. Choptank Press, St Michael’s, MD 21663, USA.

Articles in refereed journals

‘When less becomes more: studying an abridged, adapted translation from French into English of Jules Verne’s Around the world in eighty days (1873), revised for younger readers by John Webber in 1966’ IN Verniana, the online journal of Verne Studies, 2:1, 2010, at http://www.verniana.org/.

Articles in published conference proceedings

2009 ‘Around the world in eighty gays: retranslating Jules Verne from a queer perspective’. IN Translation and the (Trans)formation of Identities. Selected Papers of the CETRA Research Seminar in Translation Studies 2008. De Crom, D. (ed.).

And finally ...

Kieran would love to hear from anybody interested in communicating about Carrick, Verne, Translation, French or any topic under the sun! He has a blog on Translation Studies at http://www.fromlocaltolingo.blogspot.com/ where you can leave a message, or you can e-mail him at kieran.odriscoll3@mail.dcu.ie and he also has a Facebook presence.

End of Frank O'Driscoll's and Kieran O'Driscoll's profile on www.carrickonsuir.info