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.

All revolutionary movements since 1789 have looked instinctively to the French model. In this book, Bill Mc Cormack demonstrates that the French influence in Ireland was indeed profound, especially in the years leading up to the Easter Rising. However, it was not the traditions of the Tennis Court Oath or Bastille Day that motivated the Irish rebels, but a new French Catholic nationalism which reached its apogee with the Dreyfus Affair (1895) and which pervaded literature as well as politics. This was a complex reactionary movement, partly religiose, partly royalist, and anti-modern. In Ireland, its influence was advanced through the thought of individual visitors, through Catholic teaching orders, and through a vigorous periodical press. The 'blood sacrifice' rhetoric of Patrick Pearse and (eventually) James Connolly owes more to Maurice Barres than to Wolfe Tone. Connolly's use of the sympathetic strike derives from Georges Sorel's syndicalism. Mc Cormack examines how the formerly anti-clerical Irish Republican Brotherhood was in effect re-baptised by a French-inspired Catholic mission, which even absorbed Pearse's English and agnostic father. He explores the wealth of French material published by Thomas MacDonagh and J. M. Plunkett in The Irish Review (1911-1914), and traces the long campaign of The Catholic Bulletin to convert the rebel dead into martyrs. Finally, he discusses how the anti-democratic undertow of 1916 breaks out again in 1939 with the IRA's bombing campaign in England.

Includes entries for maps and atlases.

Features bibliographical, biographical and contact information for living authors worldwide who have at least one English publication. Entries include name, pseudonyms, addresses, citizenship, birth date, specialization, career information and a bibliography.