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" In 1934, Nancy Cunard published Negro: An Anthology, which brought together more than two hundred contributions, serving as a plea for racial justice, an exposé of black oppression, and a hymn to black achievement and endurance. The anthology stands as a virtual ethnography of 1930s racial, historic, artistic, political, and economic culture. Samuel Beckett, a close friend of the flamboyant and unconventional Cunard, translated nineteen of the contributions for Negro, constituting Beckett's largest single prose publication. Beckett traditionally has been viewed as an apolitical postmodernist rather than as a willing and major participant in Negro's racial, political, and aesthetic agenda. In Beckett in Black and Red, Friedman reevaluates Beckett's contribution to the project, reconciling the humanism of his life and work and valuing him as a man deeply engaged with the greatest public issues of his time. Cunard believed racial justice and equality could be achieved only through Communism, and thus ""black"" and ""red"" were inextricably linked in her vision. Beckett's contribution to Negro demonstrates his support for Cunard's interest in surrealism as well as her political causes, including international republicanism and anti-fascism. Only in recent years have Cunard's ideas begun to receive serious consideration. Beckett in Black and Red radically revalues Cunard and reconceives Beckett. His work in Negro shows a commitment to cultural and individual equality and worth that Beckett consistently demonstrated throughout his life, both in personal relationships and in his writing.

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This comprehensive history of Irish literature is written in both its major languages, Irish and English. The twenty-eight chapters in the two-volume history provide an authoritative chronological survey of the Irish literary tradition. Spanning fifteen centuries of literary achievement, the two volumes range from the earliest medieval Latin texts to the late twentieth century. The contributors, drawn from a range of Irish, British and North American universities, are internationally renowned experts in their fields. Featuring a detailed chronology and guides to further reading for each chapter, this major project will become the key reference to Irish Literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Two millennia's texts: condensed & refined by experts
This evidently, CUP tells us, is available only as a two-volume set. It's improbable that a purchaser would be satisfied with only one half of this massive study anyway. Handsomely bound, in a blue that reminded me that this hue was anciently Ireland's traditional national color, and diligently researched and edited (I only caught two typographical errors while reading in these books for hours), this may be an investment rather than an impulse buy, but one that should reward the owner richly.

I provide at the end from the CUP site a list of contributors and their chapters to provide you with a better idea of the two books' range. The 20th c (and a bit of the 21st) gets its own volume, inevitably as the editors note but justifiably. The scope of these books is appropriately ambitious. O'Leary and Kelleher note in their introduction that while the Field Day Anthologies' five volumes now give us a short shelf of the texts, a correspondingly concise (yet extensive as much as can be contained between two sturdy covers) survey of the literary history and an overview of criticism has been long lacking.

My own interests meant that I wandered through these books searching for my own points of interest. Your grand tour may point you in different directions. The attention given Irish-language literature is rare and I hazard unprecedented in an English-language publication, and for this the enterprise deserves acclaim. The Field Day's first three volumes were less often perhaps bemoaned for their lack of Irish-language coverage than for their neglect of women contributors and content. But this fault is rectified by the efforts of the creators of CHIL.

I found Gearóid Denvir's entry particularly informative, as he labors to defeat the prejudice against prose in favor of poetry in so much later Irish-language criticism. Declan Kiberd, Fintan O'Toole, Máirín Níc Eoin, George O'Brien, Anthony Roche, Andrew Carpenter all may be familiar to students of Irish literature, and their entries all manage to keep up an agile expression of original thinking alongside their carefully plotted itinerary. I mention these essayists but certainly I found in the others not called by name no less exacting an approach to leave behind here scholarship that, invariably contentious or cautious in some of its claims, will last for decades as guidance for the next generation of scholars.

The willingness to take on academically embedded truisms shows most winningly in Donna Wong's enthusiastically iconoclastic take on folklore and the oral tradition. Fittingly serving as the transition ending volume one, it kicks aside facile chronology. Wong presents her arguments with a verve and wit that stands out from many of her more measured colleagues in these pages. For all that, given her topic stresses the teller and not merely the tale, her energy meets its perfect match in the unclassifiably and wonderfully polyphonic and diverse old and new narratives that she gathers for inspection.

Resistance to easy classification also distinguishes, among others, Bríona Nic Dhiarmada's chapter that addresses that of Máirín Níc Eoin earlier in the second volume. The former questions the notion even of an identifiably consistent and homogenous Irish-language culture, and both authors present their opinions on the literature they explore alongside the compilation of an extensive number of texts that probably only a handful of people in the world might know in such depth and breadth. Adding to the effectiveness of these entries is the fact that the authors were able to consult each other's drafts or proofs-- I deduce, although this cross-border cooperation is not directly stated by the editors. Thus a conversation among, along with a compilation by, scholars is documented for us to "listen" to as we read. This is what you pay for, I suppose, when obtaining these books, and at a cost considerably less than any enrollment in a university class or summer seminar taught by one of the prominent contributors.

The Field Day tendency, given its tumultuous dual engendering, to separate the male from female, the Irish from the English, or the oral from the written tradition is here, also, challenged effectively by Wong and Níc Dhiarmada. Culturally, Ireland is expanding its horizons and revising old verities; this freshness enters into these collected ruminations often and excitingly. Many of the contributors stay alert against too easy a tendency to slip back, in their investigations, into the ruts so often traversed by past (and some present...a few of whom are called out by name, as Kim McCone is by Wong!) travellers through Irish literary landscapes.

Philip O'Leary and Louis de Paor also characterize the care that the many authors of these volumes bring to their task. I kept thinking, as I read essays, of texts that the entry-maker seemed to have overlooked in making his or her own case. Invariably, I would read a page or two on to find that very text cited appropriately.

A couple of very minor points of difference. The front TOC contains only the brief list of chapters and authors, similar to that I append below. The more extensive "guide to major subject areas" with expanded topical chapter sub-headings appears at the back of each volume preceding the index. I see the logic in giving a this small index before the fuller one, but for readers looking to find discussions of areas more specifically categorized, the TOC would have seemed a more logical location; a topical list could have immediately followed the compressed and terse couple of standard TOC pages.

Speaking of indices, they are not complete. Spot-checking names, I found some that were included most of the time while another mention of the person in the text was left out of the index. Or, some people remarked upon in a chapter were not indexed at all. But these minor complaints mar only a little the achievement that CUP has sponsored. Solid and handsome, these two volumes represent the foremost scholars in their fields summarizing decades of their own research and thoughts on dauntingly extensive topics. They manage this with efficiency and expertise.

These two volumes are compact enough to hold and carry, but hefty in content and generous in value, for what they offer both in price and print. The CHIL is worth saving up for. At the cost of what a couple of bagfuls of paperbacks from the airport vendor would provide in mysteries or celebrity bios or diet manuals, the CHIL gives far more intellectually nourishing substance on its purchase. Its audience may be less than the latest bestseller, but the CHIL will outlast thousands of more ephemeral backlists.

Table of Contents

Volume I: Chronology; Introduction; 1. The literature of medieval Ireland to c. 800: St Patrick to the Vikings, Tomás Ó Cathasaigh; 2. The literature of medieval Ireland, 800 1200: from the Vikings to the Normans, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh; 3. The literature of later medieval Ireland, 1200 1600: from the Normans to the Tudors A: Poetry, Marc Caball; B: Prose literature, Kaarina Hollo; 4. Literature in English, 1550 1690: from the Elizabethan settlement to the Battle of the Boyne, Anne Fogarty; 5. Literature in Irish, c.1550 1690: from the Elizabethan settlement to the Battle of the Boyne, Mícheál Mac Craith; 6. Prose in English, 1690 1800: from the Williamite wars to the Act of Union, Ian Campbell Ross; 7. Poetry in English, 1690 1800: from the Williamite wars to the Act of Union, Andrew Carpenter; 8. Literature in Irish, 1690 1800: from the Williamite wars to the Act of Union, Neil Buttimer; 9. Theatre in Ireland, 1690 1800: from the Williamite wars to the Act of Union, Christopher Morash; 10. Irish Romanticism: 1800 1830, Claire Connolly; 11. Prose writing and drama in English, 1830 1890: from Catholic emancipation to the fall of Parnell, Margaret Kelleher; 12. Poetry in English, 1830 1890: from Catholic emancipation to the fall of Parnell, Matthew Campbell; 13. Literature in Irish, 1800 1890: from the Act of Union to the Gaelic League, Gearóid Denvir; 14. Historical writings, 1690 1890 Clare O'Halloran; 15. Literature and the oral tradition, Donna Wong.

Volume II: Introduction, Margaret Kelleher and Philip O'Leary; 1. Literature and politics, Declan Kiberd; 2. The Irish Renaissance, 1890 1940: poetry in English, Patrick Crotty; 3. The Irish Renaissance, 1890 1940: prose in English John Wilson Foster; 4. The Irish Renaissance, 1890 1940: drama in English, Adrian Frazier; 5. The Irish Renaissance, 1890 1940: literature in Irish, Philip O'Leary; 6. Contemporary prose and drama in Irish: 1940 to 2000, Máirín Nic Eoin; 7. Contemporary poetry in Irish: 1940 2000, Louis de Paor; 8. Contemporary poetry in English: 1940 2000, Dillon Johnston and Guinn Batten; 9. Contemporary prose in English: 1940 2000, George O'Brien; 10. Contemporary drama in English: 1940 2000, Anthony Roche; 11. Cinema and Irish literature, Kevin Rockett; 12. Literary historiography, 1890 2000, Colin Graham; 13. Afterwords: A: Irish-language literature in the new millennium, Bríona Nic Dhiarmada; B: Irish literature in English in the new millennium, Fintan O'Toole.

Contributors

Tomás Ó Cathasaigh, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marc Caball, Kaarina Hollo, Anne Fogarty, Mícheál Mac Craith, Ian Campbell Ross, Andrew Carpenter, Neil Buttimer, Christopher Morash, Claire Connolly, Margaret Kelleher, Matthew Campbell, Gearóid Denvir, Clare O'Halloran, Donna Wong, Declan Kiberd, Patrick Crotty, John Wilson Foster, Adrian Frazier, Philip O'Leary, Máirín Nic Eoin, Louis de Paor, Dillon Johnston, Guinn Batten, George O'Brien, Anthony Roche, Kevin Rockett, Colin Graham, Bríona Nic Dhiarmada, Fintan O'Toole.

(This review will also appear in the on-line journal The Blanket) ... Read more

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This volume is a re-issuing of the dramatic writings of one of Ireland's most important women writers. Teresa Deevy's plays provided a viable female viewpoint on the tensions between individual selfhood and nationhood in Ireland in the 1930s and 1940s. this volume includes her most critically acclaimed writing for Dublin's Abbey Theatre: "The King of Spain's Daughter", "Katie Roche" and "The Wild Goose". It also publishes, for the first time, her compelling radio drama, "Supreme Dominion". Deevy's plays have continued to attract popular interest since her death in 1963,and her importance in terms of modern theatre, Irish studies and women's studies cannot be underestimated. ... Read more

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This study situates three contemporary Irish novelists, Aidan Higgins, John Banville and Neil Jordan in the context of Modernist and Postmodernist literature. In order to map how these writers respond to the problems of epistemological doubt, their work is positioned beside that of other writers like Rushdie, Nabokov, Calvino, Garcia-Marquez and Robbe-Grillet. In addition, the opening chapter outlines a working position on the meaning and significance of Postmodernism, as it pertains to literary fiction, with particular reference to the work of Brian McHale, Ihab Hassan, Patricia Waugh, David Harvey, Richard Kearney and David Lodge. Although firmly rooted in Irish literary studies, this work represents a departure from recent critical work in Irish literature in that it seeks, responding to the specificity of the fictionalized concerns of these writers, to contextualize the fictions of Higgins, Banville and Jordan within Irish and international literary traditions, rather than in an Irish historical or political framework. ... Read more

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" Over the years American -- especially New York -- audiences have evolved a consistent set of expectations for the "Irish play." Traditionally the term implied a specific subject matter, invariably rural and Catholic, and embodied a reductive notion of Irish drama and society. This view continues to influence the types of Irish drama produced in the United States today. By examining seven different opening nights in New York theaters over the course of the last century, John Harrington considers the reception of Irish drama on the American stage and explores the complex interplay between drama and audience expectations. All of these productions provoked some form of public disagreement when they were first staged in New York, ranging from the confrontation between Shaw and the Society for the Suppression of Vice to the intellectual outcry provoked by billing Waiting for Godot as "the laugh sensation of two continents." The inaugural volume in the series Irish Literature, History, and Culture, The Irish Play on the New York Stage explores the New York premieres of The Shaughraun (1874), Mrs. Warren's Profession (1905), The Playboy of the Western World (1911), Exiles (1925), Within the Gates (1934), Waiting for Godot (1956), and Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1966).

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Announcement of award given to The Irish Play on the NY St
The Irish Play on the New York Stage has been awarded the Michael J. Durkan Prize of the American Conference for Irish Studies, given annually to the best book in Literary Criticism/ Arts Criticism/Cultural Studies.Lucy McDiarmid, President, American Conference for Irish Studies ... Read more

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Modern Irish Literature marks the culmination of the lifetime interest of the distinguished scholar Vivian Mercier (1919-89) in the influence of Gaelic literature on modern Irish writing. Building on the insights developed in his classic The Irish Comic Tradition, Mercier's focus here is on the research of nineteenth-century scholars which gave rise to the revival of Irish literature in English. Separate chapters analyzing the work of writers including Bernard Shaw, Yeats, Synge, Joyce, and Beckett build to provide a fresh and timely picture of Irish literary tradition. Informed by a wealth and diversity of scholarship, and written in a highly accessible style, this book is a major contribution to the study of Irish literature. ... Read more

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This collection contains in ten volumes representative selections from the works of Irish writers, ancient and modern, in prose and in verse.The works of three hundred and fifty Irish authors are represented, and this collection is a guide, philosopher, and friend to conduct the reader through the wide fields of Irish literary lore.

Originally published in 1904, Irish Literature gave to the world a comprehensive glance at the whole development of literary art in prose and poetry from the beginning of Ireland’s history.Even literary experts are hardly aware how many of the bright particular stars which stud the firmament of English literature are Irishmen.

From the vast storehouses of Irish literature they have extracted the choicest of its treasures –the mythology, legends, fables, folk lore, poetry, essays, oratory, history, annals, science, memoirs, anecdotes, fiction, travel, drama, wit and humor, and pathos of the Irish race are all represented.This library, therefore, focuses the whole intellectuality of the Irish people.It not only presents a view of the literary history of Ireland, but it gives also a series of historic pictures of the social development of the people, for literature is the mirror in which the life and movements of historic periods are reflected. ... Read more

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The interest of Anglo-Irish literature is not only that its canon includes a high proportion of literary giants - Yeats, Joyce, Beckett - but also that it exemplifies the problematics of literature in a context of social and cultural tension. Irish literary history has often been studied under precisely that aspect: as the literature of a country in a marginal, colonial yet intra-European position; a country where a variety of cultural traditions (Gaelic, Anglo-Irish, Ulster Presbyterian) have coexisted in an uneasy relationship; a country with intense social and economic divisions. These infrastructural tensions are not mere "background" or part of the "context", but have been explicitly thematized in a substantial part of Ireland's literary output, so that an Irish author who does not address the "matter of Ireland" stands out as an anomaly, an exception to the general patterns. Therefore, the historical context of much Anglo-Irish scholarship is hardly surprising. Forging the Smithy: National Identity and Representation in Anglo-Irish Literary History addresses three interrelated areas of interest: language, territory and politics; the role of historical consciousness in Irish authors and in their dissemination; and the representation of Irish affairs asa it gives rise to specific literary strategies. ... Read more

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Originally published in 1881. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

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The Irish literary child has its nascence in earliest Celtic mythology and flourishes as an emblem of the Irish nation throughout Irish literature to the present day. This book concentrates on the development of this symbolic figure in twentieth century Irish poetry and prose and juxtaposes the figure of the literary child at any given point in the century with political and social conditions of Ireland at the time. ... Read more

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This study demonstrates the practical application of postcolonial theory to Irish drama. It argues that postcolonial tactics must evolve to suit temporal needs, calling for a re-evaluation of writers too easily dismissed or overlooked in earlier generations. Starting with Sheridan's sister, Alicia LeFanu, around the Act of Union, moving to Dion Boucicault's comedic melodramas post-famine, then to W.B. Yeats' romantic Celt mythology plays, on to Brian Friel's interrogation of nationalisms, and finally to contemporary voices now emerging, analyses of the focus plays and their public reception illustrates why drama, as a communally received literate work, may more powerfully voice postcolonial concerns than the previously privileged novel form. ... Read more

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The Shattered Mirror: Irish Literature and Film, 1990-2005 is a response to changing representations of Irish identity. Interrogating the period of the 'Celtic Tiger' in Ireland, which was accompanied by widespread social change, the book draws on Lacanian psychoanalysis to explore issues such as prosperity, Europeanism, Diaspora, multi-culturalism, decline in religious faith and gender norms. Examining three writers and filmmakers in each section on narrative, drama and film, The Shattered Mirror argues that, in this fifteen years, Irish identity has changed radically. ... Read more