Irish Literature in Transition, 1780–1830: Volume 2

Provides a new account of the years that formed the crucible of Irish writing in English.

Claire Connolly (Edited by)

9781108492980, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 March 2020

456 pages, 1 b/w illus.
23.7 x 15.9 x 2.9 cm, 0.76 kg

'… Connolly's book's self-professed goal of 'reorienting our understanding of Irish literature' remains an essential task even after decades of significant developments. I imagine that a work of this quality might be able to achieve that goal, as well.' Brian C. Cooney, European Romantic Review

The years between 1780 and 1830 are vital decades in the history of Irish writing in English. This book charts the confluence of Enlightenment, antiquarian, and romantic energies within Irish literary culture and shows how different writers and genres absorbed, dispersed and remade those interests during five decades of political change. During those same years, literature made its own history. By the 1840s, Irish writing formed a recognizable body of work, which later generations would draw on, quote, anthologize and dispute. Questions raised by novels, poems and plays of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries - the politics of language and voice; the relationship between literature and locality; the possibility of literature as a profession - resonated for many Irish writers over the centuries that followed and continue to matter today. This comprehensive volume will be a key reference for scholars and students of Irish literature and romantic literary studies.

Making maps, Irish literature in transition, 1780–1830 Claire Connolly
Part I. Origins: 1. Gaelic literature in transition 1780–1830 Lesa Ní Mhunghaile
2. Irish literature and classical modes Norman Vance
Part II. Transitions: 3. Conceptual frameworks: Irish literary theory, from politeness to politics Julia M. Wright
4. Whigs, weavers and fire-worshippers: anglophone Irish poetry in transition Matthew Campbell
5. Metropolitan theatre David O'Shaughnessy
6. Harps and pepperpots, songs and pianos: music and Irish poetry Adrian Paterson
7. Enlightened Ulster, Romantic Ulster: Irish magazine culture of the Union era Jennifer Orr
Part III. Reputations: 8. Placing Mary Tighe in Irish literary history: from manuscript culture to print Harriet Kramer Linkin
9. Edgeworth and realism James Chandler
10. Lady Morgan and 'the babbling page of history': cultural transition as performance in the Irish national tale Nicola Lloyd
11. 'The diabolical eloquence of horror': Maturin's wanderings Jim Kelly
12. English Ireland/Irish Ireland: the poetry and translations of J. J. Callanan Gregory A. Schirmer
13. Thomas Moore and the social life of forms Jane Moore
14. 'English, Irished': Union and violence in the fiction of John and Michael Banim Willa Murphy
15. The transition of reputation: Gerald Griffin Mark Corcoran
16. William Maginn: the Cork correspondent David E. Latané
Part IV. Futures: 17. 'My country takes her place among the nations of the earth': Ireland and the British archipelago in the age of the Union Murray Pittock
18. Mentalities in transition: Irish Romanticism in European context Joep Leerssen
19. Ireland and Empire: popular fiction in the wake of the Union Sonja Lawrenson
20. Transatlantic influences and futures Joseph Rezek
21. The literary legacies of Irish Romanticism Fiona Stafford.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], British & Irish history [HBJD1], Literary reference works [DSR], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Literary studies: general [DSB]