Modern Irish Writers: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook

(Hardback)

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Description

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.

Reviews

Coverage is quite full, ranging from authors such as Joyce and Yeats, whose careers began in the nineteenth century and ended in the early to mid-twentieth century, to writers such as Rita Ann Higgins and Paula Meehan, who were born in the 1950s. Modern Irish Writers is certain to serve students and scholars equally well. Students will appreciate the solid overview and comprehensiveness of a general basic textbook, and scholars will appreciate the information on less-familiar writers. Recommended for academic and large public libaries.-Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin
The essays will be a gold mine for graduate students, offering up nuggets such as topics that merit further scholarly exploration or noting that some writers (e.g., Oliver St. John Gogarty) have fallen into neglect and are due for a reassessment... Modern Irish Writers maps not just where scholarship on these writers has been, but points to the directions where it may go. Serious students of Irish literature of the past century will ignore it at their peril.- Rettig on Reference
"The essays will be a gold mine for graduate students, offering up nuggets such as topics that merit further scholarly exploration or noting that some writers (e.g., Oliver St. John Gogarty) have fallen into neglect and are due for a reassessment... Modern Irish Writers maps not just where scholarship on these writers has been, but points to the directions where it may go. Serious students of Irish literature of the past century will ignore it at their peril."- Rettig on Reference
"Coverage is quite full, ranging from authors such as Joyce and Yeats, whose careers began in the nineteenth century and ended in the early to mid-twentieth century, to writers such as Rita Ann Higgins and Paula Meehan, who were born in the 1950s. Modern Irish Writers is certain to serve students and scholars equally well. Students will appreciate the solid overview and comprehensiveness of a general basic textbook, and scholars will appreciate the information on less-familiar writers. Recommended for academic and large public libaries."-Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin

Author Bio

ALEXANDER G. GONZALEZ is Profesor of English, specializing in Irish literature at Cortland College of the State University of New York. He has taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at The Ohio State University. During the summer of 1991 he served as Distinguished Scholar in Residence at The Pennsylvania State University, where he taught a course on contemporary Irish women poets. He has published several books, including Assessing the Achievement of J. M. Synge (Greenwood, 1996), and his articles have appeared in journals such as Studies in Short Fiction, Irish University Review, Colby Quarterly, South Atlantic Review, and Eire-Ireland.