This book argues that populism has been a shaping force in Irish literary culture. Populist moments and movements have compelled authors to reject established forms and invent new ones. Sometimes, as in the middle period of W.B. Yeats's work, populism forces a writer into impossible stances, spurring ever greater rhetorical and poetic creativity. At other times, as in the critiques of Anna Parnell or Myles na gCopaleen, authors penetrate the rhetoric fog of populist discourse and expose the hollowness of its claims. Yet in both politics and culture, populism can be a generative force. Daniel O'Connell, and later the Land League, utilized populist discourse to advance Irish political freedom and expand rights. The most powerful works of Lady Gregory and Ernie O'Malley are their portraits of The People that borrows from the populist vocabulary. While we must be critical of populist discourse, we dismiss it at our loss. This study synthesizes existing scholarship on populism to explore how Irish texts have evoked The People--a crucial rhetorical move for populist discourse--and how some writers have critiqued, adopted, and adapted the languages of Irish populisms.

While Grace supports her artist husband, Wellington Holmes, as he recovers fully both mentally and emotionally from a deliberate plane crash, the faith-based power couple now face a new set of seasons in their lives. Grace celebrates the development of a ground-breaking Liquid Art Intelligence product, and Wellington opens the doors to the Wellington Holmes Art Academy. They are the subjects of a new movie; revel in a newfound romance; see delightful, discerning, and renewed family ties with their two children; and facilitate a growing Artist Wife Organization with national members. But it’s evident all is not well in their life seasons. Grace’s secret admirer could get her killed, and evil threats are commonplace. In Grace’s Seasons, author Sharron Bedford-Vines skillfully exploits deep-seated involvements in Grace and Wellington’s lives. In this, the second book, she features the Artist Wife Organization, detectives, an old nemesis, and new arch enemies as they surface from throughout the world disrupting their glamorous and cosmopolitan fine-art, celebrity lifestyle.

The Irish New Woman explores the textual and ideological connections between feminist, nationalist and anti-imperialist writing and political activism at the fin de siècle . This is the first study which foregrounds the Irish and New Woman contexts, effecting a paradigm shift in the critical reception of fin de siècle writers and their work.

Grace is a sheltered daddy’s girl from a supportive middle class family when she starts college as an art major. At school, she meets Wellington Holmes, her charismatic professor, also an artist. Shockingly, they fall in love and get married. Grace didn’t know everything about her husband before their marriage, but she is soon to find out. Together, Grace and Wellington join the international art world, hobnobbing in prestigious New York art galleries and romantic cities in Europe. The cost of their fame, though, becomes both lucrative—and dangerous. Grace is up against thugs, blackmail, and betrayal as an artist’s wife and falls on God’s strong foundation to survive. Grace is indeed “fearfully and wonderfully made.” She was always aware of her need for a stronger relationship with God, but surrounded by violence and loss, she now needs Him more than ever. She rediscovers her faith with the help of angels in disguise as she struggles to overcome worldly evil and enemies. Grace is determined to survive with Wellington at her side, but she can’t do it alone.