Irish Writing

'Can we not build up a national tradition, a national literature, which shall be none the less Irish in spirit from being English in language?' W. B. YeatsThis anthology traces the history of modern Irish literature from the revolutionary era of the late eighteenth century to the early years of political independence. From Charlotte Brooke and Edmund Burke to Elizabeth Bowen and Louis MacNeice, the anthology shows how, in forging a tradition of theirown, Irish writers have continually challenged and renewed the ways in which Ireland is imagined and defined. The anthology includes a wide-ranging and generous selection of fiction, poetry, and drama. Three plays by W. B. Yeats, Augusta Gregory, and J. M. Synge are printed in their entirety, along with the opening episode of James Joyce's Ulysses. The volume also includes letters, speeches, songs,memoirs, essays, and travel writings, many of which are difficult to obtain elsewhere.'Stephen Regan's anthology vividly and valiantly presents a nation, and a national literature, coming into being.' Paul Muldoon

This is the first anthropological study of writers, writing and contemporary literary culture. Drawing on the flourishing literary scene in Ireland as the basis for her research, Helena Wulff explores the social world of contemporary Irish writers, examining fiction, novels, short stories as well as journalism. Discussing writers such as John Banville, Roddy Doyle, Colm Tóibín, Frank McCourt, Anne Enright, Deirdre Madden, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Colum McCann, David Park, and Joseph O ́Connor, Wulff reveals how the making of a writer's career is built on the 'rhythms of writing': long hours of writing in solitude alternate with public events such as book readings and media appearances. Destined to launch a new field of enquiry, Rhythms of Writing is essential reading for students and scholars in anthropology, literary studies, creative writing, cultural studies, and Irish studies.

This is a collection of original essays by international scholars which focuses on Irish writing in English from the eighteenth century to the present. The essays explore the recurrent motif of exile and the subversive potential of Irish writing in political, cultural and literary terms. Case-studies of major writers such as Swift, Joyce, and Heaney are set alongside discussions of relatively unexplored writing such as radical pamphleteering in the age of the French Revolution and the contribution of women writers to Nationalistic journalism.

Exploring the fascination of Irish folklore and storytelling for collectors, scholars, writers, and readers, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the complex relationship between oral traditions and literary practices in Ireland. The rich contributions build upon existing studies of the nature and importance of Irish folklore, acknowledging the symbiotic relationship that exists between storytellers of oral narrative on the one hand, and literary storytellers on the other. The book deepens our understanding of the creative use of oral traditions by leading Irish writers, such as W.B. Yeats, Padraig Pearse, Peig Sayers, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, and Anne Enright. Fresh perspectives are offered on the continuing evolution of folklore collection and scholarship in Ireland, while new contexts are provided for evaluating the diverse ways in which Irish writers have drawn on traditional narratives, beliefs, and practices, exemplified by the blending of folklore and individual creativity. This collection is a timely treasury for those interested in Irish writing, identity, life, and ideas. *** "Two sections immediately captured this reviewer's attention: the essays on the modernist project in creating the National Folklore Collection fascinate, and Margaret O'Neill offers tremendous insight into Anne Enright's postmodern work utilizing a psychoanalytic lens, particularly regarding the funeral tradition of keening." - Choice, July 2015, Vol. 51, No.11 [Subject: Irish Studies, Literary Criticism, Folklore]

The presence of Irish writers is almost invisible in literary studies of London. The Irish Writing London redresses the critical deficit. A range of experts on particular Irish writers reflect on the diverse experiences and impact this immigrant group has had on the city. Such sustained attention to a location and concern of Irish writing, long passed over, opens up new terrain to not only reveal but create a history of Irish-London writing. Alongside discussions of MacNeice, Boland and McGahern, the autobiography of Brendan Behan and identity of Irish-language writers in London is considered. Written by an internal array of scholars, these new essays on key figures challenge the deep-seated stereotype of what constitutes the proper domain of Irish writing, producing a study that is both culturally and critically alert and a dynamic contribution to literary criticism of the city.

This will appeal to anyone wishing to enrich their understanding of Japan, those with an interest in Hearn, Irish literary tradition and life and literature in a cross-cultural context.

"Drawing on sources such as the land, the Church, the past, changing politics, and literary styles, Irish writers ranging from W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, and Augusta Gregory to Roddy Doyle, Kate O'Brien, Colm Toibin, John Banville, and Seamus Heaney explore what it means to be a writer in Ireland"--Provided by publisher.

This original study focusing on four Irish writers – Leslie Daiken, Charles Donnelly, Ewart Milne and Michael Sayers – retrieves a hitherto neglected episode of Thirties literary history which highlights the local and global aspects of Popular Front cultural movements. From interwar London to the Spanish Civil War and the USSR, the book examines the lives and work of Irish writers through their writings, their witness texts and their political activism. The relationships of these writers to George Orwell, Samuel Beckett, T.S. Eliot, Nancy Cunard, William Carlos Williams and other figures of cultural significance within the interwar period sheds new light on the internationalist aspects of a Leftist cultural history. The book also explores how Irish literary women on the Left defied marginalization. The impetus of the book is not merely to perform an act of literary salvage but to find new ways of re-imagining what might be said to constitute Irish literature mid-twentieth century; and to illustrate how Irish writers played a role in a transforming political moment of the twentieth century. It will be of interest to scholars and students of cultural history and literature, Irish diaspora studies, Jewish studies, and the social and literary history of the Thirties.