Ireland Lit Guide

The Booker Prize for Fiction is awarded each year for the best original novel written in English. Until recently, the prize was limited to only writers publishing in the United Kingdom. The prize is of great significance for writers, publishers, and readers. This is a much sought-after mark of distinction.  1973 – James Gordon Farrell – ‘The Siege of Krishnapur‘  1978 – Jean Iris Murdoch – ‘The Sea, the Sea’  1993 – Roddy Doyle – ‘Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha‘  2005 – John Banville – ‘The Sea’  

The Nobel Prize in Literature is one of the most esteemed awards a writer can receive. Ireland is home to several notable winners of this cherished and coveted prize.  1923 – William Butler Yeats  1925 – George Bernard Shaw  1969 – Samuel Beckett  1995 – Seamus Heaney

From the outset, the nature and function of Irish literature has always been political or used for political ends. However, it is a mistake to bind Irish Literature to nationalism to the exclusion of Protestant culture, identity and politics.   The role of art in Irish culture, and in particular Irish literature, is best summarized by James Joyce in the Scylla and Charybdis episode of Ulysses. He writes, “The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring. The painting of Gustave Moreau is the painting of ideas. The deepest poetry of Shelley, the words of Hamlet bring our mind into contact with the essential wisdom, Plato’s world of ideas. All the rest is the speculation of schoolboys”.   It is not just the voice of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, but also the voice of the poor and dispossessed. O’Casey writes similarly in Juno and the Paycock: “What was the pain I suffered, Johnny, bringing you into the world to carry you to the cradle to the pains I’ll suffer carryin‘ you out o’ the world to bring you to your grave! Mother o’ God, Mother o’ God, have pity on us all! Sacred Heart o’ Jesus, take away our hearts o’ stone, and give us hearts…

Writers from Ulster  Antrim: Sam Millar, William Hamilton Drummond, Alexander Irvine, Sam Burnside, Paula Clamp, Gréagóir Ó Dúill  Armagh: William Drennan, Louis MacNeice, Derek Mahon, Paul Muldoon, Medbh McGuckian, Brian Keenan, Ray Givans, Jarlath Gregory  Cavan: Cathair Mac Cabe, Thomas Sheridan, Henry Brooke, Philip Connell, Mary-Anne Madden Sadlier, Agnes O’Farrelly, Shane Connaughton  Derry: Seamus Heaney, James Simmons, Joyce Cary, George Farquhar, Antonia Logue  Donegal: William Allingham, Patrick MacGill, Frank McGuinness, Brian Friel, Francis Harvey, Patrick McGill, Charles McGlinchy, Peadar O’Donnell, Cathal Ó Searcaigh  Down: Martin Waddell, Maurice Hayes, MJ Murphy  Fermanagh: Frank Ormsby, Shane Connaughton, Carlo Gébler, John Kelly, Eugene McCabe, Blánaid McKinney, Nigel McLoughlin, Mary Montague  Monaghan: Patrick Kavanagh, Patrick McCabe  Tyrone: William Carleton, Brian Friel, Benedict Kiely, John Montague    Writers from Connaught  Galway: Augusta Gregory, Liam O’Flaherty, Desmond Hogan, John Arden, Nora Barnacle, Ken Bruen, Eilís Dillon, Frank Harris, Rita Ann Higgins, Fred Johnston, Walter Macken, Edward Martin, MJ Molloy, Tom Murphy, Padraic O’Conaire, Máirtín Ó Díreáin, Brendan O’hEithir, Mary O’Malley, Joe Steve O’Neachtain  Leitrim: Brian Leyden, Vincent Woods  Mayo: George Moore, John F Deane, John Healy, Mike McCormack, Michael Mullen, Pat O’Brien  Roscommon: Douglas Hyde, Percy French, John Waters, Patrick Chapman  Sligo: William Butler Yeats, Leland Bardwell, Dermot Healy, Neil Jordan, Joe McGowan, Eoin McNamara     Writers from Leinster  Carlow: William Francis Maher MacNevin, Michael Farrell, Deirdre Brennan, Pádraig Ó Snodaigh  Dublin: Jonathan Swift, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce Brendan Behan, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, James Clarence Mangan, Roddy Doyle, Flann O’Brien, John McGahern, Sean O’Casey, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Katharine…

Absurdism is a philosophy, usually translated into different art forms, that holds that any attempt to understand the universe will fail.   Aestheticism: Art for art’s sake, rather than for any exterior motive, such as utilitarianism.   Allegory: A work that has a literal meaning and a subtext that is symbolic, used particularly as a way of commenting about political or moral ideas or people.   Allusion: Reference to something else, such as another work of literature.   Antagonist: The protagonist’s or hero’s principal enemy.   Anthropomorphism: Giving human-like thinking and talking abilities to non-humans.   Bathos: Going beyond pathos so that the result is ludicrous.   Burlesque: Using a manner which jars with the matter in a work to satirize a subject or literature. It can come in a variety of styles – parody, mock epic, travesty.   Canon of literature: The essential list of authors in a particular culture, such as English, that critics, teachers and scholars recognize as major and whose works have been deemed classics. The term stems from the Greek word ‘kanon‘ – measuring rod – and it was applied to the books that religious leaders deemed to be genuine in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.   Celtic Revival: Irish literature’s very productive period from the late 19th century to the 1939…

Ireland is home to several world-class universities, many of which specialize in literature and literary history. Below is a list of popular high education providers.  Trinity College Dublin School of Drama, The Samuel Beckett Centre,  Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland  Ph: +353 1 608 1239 Fax: +353 1 679 3488  E-mail: ann.mulligan@tcd.ie  School of Irish & Celtic Languages  Professor Damian McManus Room 4059 (Arts Building), telephone (+353 1) 608 1105,  e-mail pmcmanus@tcd.ie  School of English Room 4013/4015 Arts Building Trinity College Dublin Dublin 2 Ireland Tel: +353 1 608 1111 Fax: +353 1 671 7114   University College Dublin (UCD) UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies, Irish Folklore & Linguistics Professor Séamas ó’Catháin  Head of School  UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies, Irish Folklore and Linguistics  UCD School of Languages, Literatures & Film Ms Clíona de Bhaldraithe Marsh Head of School   University College Cork Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences 3rd Floor, Block B, O’Rahilly Building, UCC T 353 (0)21 490 2773/2361 F 353 (0)21 490 3364  Maynooth Old & Middle Irish Arts Building, North Campus. Phone: 7083666  Department of English Co Kildare,  Ireland  Tel: +353-1-708 3667  Fax: +353-1-708 6418  Email: engsec@nuim.ie    Queen’s University Belfast School of Languages,  email: modern.languages@qub.ac.uk  Literatures and Performing Arts  Queen’s University  Belfast BT7 1NN …

Histories are told through stories. Irish literary history is measured in major works and writings, but these texts can also illuminate a great many pivotal events in the country’s history.  Irish Literature in the 12th century The Book of Leinster – 1150 AD (The Lebor Gabala Erren), Aislinge Mac Conglinne  Irish Literature in the 14th century The Yellow Book of Lecan, The Great Book of Lecan, The Book of Hy Many, and The Book of Ballymote  Irish Literature in the 17th century The Mourning Bride (1697) – William Congreve, Léig Dhíot Th’arm, a mhacaoimh mná – Phiarais Feirtéir, A Fhir Chumainn – Feargal óg Mac a Bhaird, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn – Seathrún Céitín, Truagh t’Fhágbháil, A Inis Chuinn, – Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig, Ware’s Tracts on Popery – James Ware, Is mairg nár chrean le maitheas saoghalts – Dáibhí O’Bruadair  Irish Literature in the 18th century The Deserted Village (1770) – Oliver Goldsmith, Gullivers Travels – Jonathan Swift, The School for Scandal (1776) – Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Brief Discourse – Aodh Buidhe MacCruitín, Wind and Weather, a Sermon (1797) – James Porter, A Letter to the Right Honorable William Pitt (1799) – William Drennan, Poems on Various Subjects (1804) – James Orr, To a Lady- Mary Barber, Tristram Shandy (1760) – Laurence Sterne, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) – Edmund Burke, The Shaugraun (1875) -Dion Boucicault  Irish Literature in the Great Irish Famine: 1845-1850 John Keegan, Anthologia Germanica (1845) – James Clarence Mangan, Alexander the Great (1874) – Aubrey Thomas de Vere, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (1830) – William…

Irish Literature in the 12th century During the 12th century, Ireland was divided into a fluid hierarchy of petty kingdoms and over-kingdoms. Power was concentrated in the hands of regional dynasties fighting against each other for the control or more land. One of their number, the King of Leinster Diarmait Mac Murchada (anglicized as Diarmuid MacMorrough) was forcibly exiled from his kingdom by the new High King, Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair. Fleeing to Aquitaine, Diarmait obtained permission from Henry II to use the Norman forces to regain his kingdom. The first Norman knight landed in Ireland in 1167, followed by the main forces of Normans, Welsh and Flemings in Wexford in 1169. Within a short time, Leinster was regained, Waterford and Dublin were under Diarmait’s control, and he had Strongbow as a son-in-law, later naming him as heir to the kingdom. This caused consternation to King Henry II of England, who feared the establishment of a rival Norman state in Ireland. He resolved to establish his authority.   Irish Literature in the 14th century The Yellow Book of Lecan, The Great Book of Lecan, The Book of Hy Many, and The Book of Ballymote. It is this manuscript of Irish sagas, law texts, and genealogies, that contains a guide to the ogham alphabet. Much of the information available on ogham has come from this manuscript and…

Whether you’re looking to publish your own work or on the hunt for the next big name in Irish literature, you’ll need to start somewhere. Below is a list of active literary publishers in Ireland.     Fornas na Gaeilge  Blackhall Publishing  Blackstaff Press  Brandon/Mount Eagle Publications  Church of Ireland Publishing  Clar-Chonnachta  Cois Life  Cork University Press  D.I.A.S. School of Celtic Studies  Flyleaf Press  Georgina Campbell Guides  Gill & Macmillan   Government Publications  Institute of Public Administration  Irish Academic Press  Liberties Press  Lilliput Press  Maverick House  Mentor Books  Mercier Press   National Gallery  New Island  Penguin Ireland  Royal Irish Academy  Salmon Publishing  The Columba Press  The Educational Company of Ireland  The Gallery Press  The Liffey Press Ltd  The O’Brien Press Ltd  The Woodfield Press  Veritas  Wordwell 

Dates: b. 1847, d. 1912 Literary Movement: Dark romanticism Famous Works: Dracula   Profile: While many of us know Bram Stoker as the mastermind behind the modern iteration of the vampire, in his life, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving. He was also the business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London. Though Stoker had a diverse set of interests and gifts, his contribution to the Irish literary tradition is important.   Born in 1847, Stoker came into the world in Clontarf on the northside of Dublin, Ireland. The third of seven children, he was bedridden with unknown illness for much of his childhood, only making a full recovery when he began school at the age of seven. Stoker did not develop any further serious illnesses and excelled as an athlete at Trinity College, Dublin, which he attended from 1864 to 1870. He graduated with a BA in 1870 and completed his MA in 1875. He was the auditor of the College Historical Society and president of the University Philosophical Society, where he published his first paper, Sensationalism in Fiction and Society.   Stoker’s interest in theater grew out of his BA education,…

Dates: b. 1768, d. 1848 Literary Movement: Realism, early Romanticism, Famous Works: Practical Education, Belinda, Leonora, Helen   Profile: While Maria Edgeworth doesn’t always get the recognition she deserves, she is noted as having been a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe. Though she was born in England, Edgeworth moved to Ireland as a child. She received home-schooling from her father and excelled in law, politics, literature, and other subjects. After receiving her primary education, Edgeworth became her father’s assistant in managing the family estate.   As a young woman, Maria and her family toured the English midlands, then traveled to the continent—specifically, Brussels and France. She met Lord Byron and Humphry Davy, then entered into a long correspondence with Sir Walter Scott. These experiences helped Edgeworth develop her own set of politics, which she explored at length in her books. She worked several positions—as an editor, as a relief worker for famine-stricken Irish peasants, and an unofficial advisor to William Rowan Hamilton.   Edgeworth was one of the first realist writers in children’s literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel. Edgeworth was also among the few authors who truly espoused…