Tales From Bective Bridge

'Mary Lavin's stories... are subtle without making a palaver about it, beautifully told, no pat endings, no slickness; and as in life, nothing is resolved.' William Trevor First published in 1943, Tales from Bective Bridge is a collection of ten stories that memorably depict the rural mid-lands of Ireland and their people. Mary Lavin, though American-born, grew up in Athenry; and though the Irish short story was a dauntingly well-established form she succeeded in reinventing it with this, her debut collection, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, which exhibits a Chekhovian gift for the meaning of small things, contrary behaviours and emotions. This 2012 edition, reissued for the centenary of Mary Lavin's birth, includes an introduction by Evelyn Conlon. 'One of modern Irish fiction's most subversive voices... [Lavin's] art explored often brutal tensions, disappointments and frustrations dictating the relationships within so-called 'normal' families.' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

Once in a while, wrote Mary Lavin, a book comes out under a lucky star. Tales from Bective Bridge was lucky in its day. Its day was some time in 1943 when it was awarded the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize. This edition includes a new introduction by writer and critic Evelyn Conlon.

From the legendary poet Oisin to modernist masters like James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, and Samuel Beckett, Ireland's literary tradition has made its mark on the Western canon. Despite its proud tradition, the student who searches the shelves for works on Irish women's fiction is liabel to feel much as Virginia Woolf did when she searched the British Museum for work on women by women. Critic Nuala O'Faolain, when confronted with this disparity, suggested that "modern Irish literature is dominated by men so brilliant in their misanthropy... [that] the self-respect of Irish women is radically and paradoxically checkmated by respect for an Irish national achievement." While Ann Owen Weekes does not argue with the first part of O'Faolain's assertion, she does with the second. In Irish Women Writers: An Uncharted Tradition, she suggests that it is the critics rather than the writers who have allowed themselves to be checkmated. Beginning with Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent (1800) and ending with Jennifer Johnston's The Railway Station (1980), she surveys the best of the Ireland's female literature to show its artistic and historic significance and to demonstrate that it has its own themes and traditions related to, yet separate from, that of male Irish writers. Weekes examines the work of writers like E.OE. Sumerville and Martin Ross (pen names for cousins Edith Somerville and Violet Martin), Elizabeth Bowen, Kate O'Brien, Mary Lavin, and Molly Keane, among others. She teases out the themes that recur in these writers' works, including the link between domestic and political violence and re-visioning of traditional stories, such as Julia O'Faolain's use of the Cuchulain and Diarmuid and Grainne myths to reveal the negation of women's autonomy. In doing so, she demonstrates that the literature of Anglo- and Gaelic-Irish women presents a unified tradition of subjects and techniques, a unity that might become an optimistic model not only for Irish literature but also for Irish people.

This work is a distinctive, multidisciplinary encyclopedia covering the cultural, political, economic, musical, and literary impact that Ireland and the nations of the Americas have had on one another since the time of Brendan the Navigator. Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History aims to broaden the traditional notion of 'Irish-American' beyond Boston, New York, and Chicago. In additional to full coverage of Irish culture in those settings, it reveals the pervasive Irish influence in everything from the settling of the American West, to the spread of Christianity throughout the hemisphere, to Irish involvement in revolutionary movements from the American colonies to Mexico to South America. In addition, the encyclopedia shows the profound impact of Irish Americans on their homeland, in everything from art and literature informed by the emigrant experience, to efforts by Irish Americans to influence Irish politics. Ranging from colonial times to the present, and informed by the surge of academic interest in the past 30 years, Ireland and the Americas is the definitive resource on the profound ties that bind the cultures of Ireland, the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

While the Irish Literary Revival began around 1885 and ended somewhere between 1925 and 1940, the Irish Renaissance has continued to the present day and shows no sign of abating. The period has produced some of the most important and influential figures in Irish literature, some of whom are counted among the world's greatest authors. The Revival saw a reestablishment of Ireland's literary connections with its Celtic heritage, and writers such as William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory drew heavily on the myths and legends of the past. James Joyce boldly reshaped the novel and wrote short fiction of enduring value. Contemporary Irish writers continue to be leading figures and include such authors as Brian Frigl, Seamus Heaney, and Eavan Boland. Included in this reference book are alphabetically arranged entries for more than 70 modern Irish writers, including Samuel Beckett, William Trevor, Patrick Kavanagh, Medbh McGuckian, Sean O'Casey, J. M. Synge, and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill. Entries are written by expert contributors and reflect a broad range of perspectives. Each entry contains a brief biography that summarizes the author's career, a discussion of major works and themes, an overview of the author's critical reception, and a bibliography of primary and secondary works. An introductory essay reviews the large and growing body of scholarship on modern Irish literature, while an extensive bibliography concludes the volume.

Portraits of writers taken in Kennys Bookshop, Galway.