Manx literature

Even though his allegedly chronic drinking and womanising caused considerable trouble with his superiors in the Church of England Diocese of Sodor and Man, Rev.

The recent revival of Manx, the creation of the Eisteddfod-inspired Cooish literary and cultural festival, and the rise of Manx-medium education beginning with the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh has resulted in new original works and translations being published in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with particularly important authors including Brian Stowell (1936–2019), Colin Jerry (1936-2008), and Robert Corteen Carswell (born 1950).

The earliest datable text in Manx (preserved in 18th century manuscripts), is the Manannan Ballad relates the history and the lives of the rulers of the Isle of Man from Manannán mac Lir, a deity from Celtic mythology, through the introduction of Christianity, until Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby during the Renaissance.

Even though the Isle of Man was the birthplace of Elizabethan era Roman Catholic martyr Blessed Robert Anderton, the State-controlled Anglican Communion and nonconformist denominations eventually won the allegiance of the Manx people.

For example, after his gardener overheard him discussing the recently published Ossian poems of James Macpherson and admitted to knowing of Fionn and Oisín, Mark Hildesley, the Church of England Bishop of Sodor and Man, collected and wrote down from the local oral tradition multiple lays in Manx from the Fenian Cycle of Celtic Mythology, which were accordingly preserved for the future.

The first printed work in Manx, (Coyrle Sodjeh), dates from 1707: a translation of a Prayer Book catechism in English by Bishop Thomas Wilson.

Dr. Thomas Christian produced the widely acclaimed Pargys Caillit, an English-Manx literary translation of John Milton's Paradise Lost was published in 1796.

Dr. Christian also wrote multiple carvals in the Manx language, of which Roish my row yn seihll shoh crooit ("Before this world was created"), is considered one of the finest ever composed.

[9] Much collection, publication, and preservation of the oral tradition was conducted by Colin Jerry, including the writing of a great deal of original satirical and comic literature.