Irish Literature in Transition, 1940–1980: Volume 5

Eve Patten

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781108480444
• eBook ISBN: 9781108572361
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: English Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

This volume explores the history of Irish writing between the Second World War (or the 'Emergency') in 1939 and the re-emergence of violence in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. It situates modern Irish writing within the contexts of cultural transition and transnational connection, often challenging pre-existing perceptions of Irish literature in this period as stagnant and mundane. While taking into account the grip of Irish censorship and cultural nationalism during the mid-twentieth century, these essays identify an Irish literary culture stimulated by international political horizons and fully responsive tochanges in publishing, readership, and education. The book combines valuable cultural surveys with focussed discussions of key literary moments, and of individual authors such as Seán O'Faoláin, Samuel Beckett, Edna O'Brien, and John McGahern.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Series Preface
• General Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I After the War: Ideologies in Transition
• Part II Genres in Transition
• Part III Sex, Politics and Literary Protest
• Part IV Identities and Connections
• Part V Retrospective Frameworks: Criticism in Transition
• Index