Status of the Irish language from 40,000 up to 80,000 people. Areas in which the language remains a vernacular are referred to as "Gaeltacht" areas. Irish is the least widely spoken among the 24 official languages of the European Union. The use of the language in the Irish diaspora has been declining steadily. Irish speakers outside the Gaeltacht include both second-language speakers and native speakers who were raised and educated through Irish. They are sometimes known as and constitute an expanding minority, though of uncertain size. They are predominantly urban dwellers. Present trends make it likely that they represent the future of the language and
The Day of the Locust dangerous results. Novelists of his era praised Nathanael West's writing, but notoriety and critical acclaim for his works lagged behind his peers in terms of readers and book sales. "The Day of the Locust" only sold about 1480 copies following its first publishing. Critics began to situate "The Day of the Locust" within the canon in the 1950s, more than a decade after a fatal car crash claimed the author's life. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked "The Day of the Locust" seventy-third on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. "Time" magazine included the