Contemporary Irish Literature: Transforming Tradition - Softcover

Mahony, Christina Hunt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312219016 ISBN 13: 9780312219017

Publisher: St Martin's Press, 1999

Synopsis

An Introduction to Contemporary Irish Literature provides a thorough initiation into the works of a broad selection of living Irish writers. The collection treats the writings of a range of individuals, from such well-established artists as Seamus Heaney and Brian Friel, to those whose reputations demand to be extended beyond their Irish audience. With a comprehensive introduction which provides a continuum from the Celtic Twilight to the present day, and with helpful literary and historical chronologies and maps, An Introduction to Contemporary Irish Literature is formatted with chapters on poetry, prose, drama, and autobiography. The careers of major figures are examined in some detail, and a preliminary acquaintance is provided for writers who may be new to non-Irish readers. Particularly intriguing are the chapters on the contemporary contribution to literature from the troubled province of Northern Ireland, the work of the newly-canonical female writers, and the recent innovative work appearing on the Irish stage. An Introduction to Contemporary Irish Literature is the most comprehensive and accessible volume on this subject, and is bound to be the authoritative source to consult for anyone interested in contemporary Irish literature.

About this title

About the Author

Christina Hunt Mahony is the Associate Director of the Center for Irish Studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. She is the author of studies on W.B. Yeats, Louis MacNeice, and Irish women novelists. She holds a Ph.D. from University College, Dublin.

From Library Journal

This is indeed the world of "contemporary" Irish writing, for Mahony includes only the living, from "famous Seamus" Heaney to 33-year-old Colum McCann. Divided into three long chapters covering poetry, the stage, and fiction, the book devotes five to ten pages to each of the major living writers, with brief biographies, publication histories, discussion of important individual works, and the themes and motifs of each. Mahony (Ctr. for Irish Studies, Catholic Univ.) manages to convey an enormous amount of information within her tight format and writes with admirable clarity and insight. This is meant to be an introductory text only for those first discovering that Irish literature continues on after Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett. The only current one-volume introduction to these writers, this is essential for all libraries with a literary collection at any level.?Shelley Cox, Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0312219016
• ISBN 13: 9780312219017
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336