A collection of eight short stories about Irish immigrants in America by a New England writer. An introduction discusses Jewett's understanding of the Irish psyche compared to the disdain for the Irish found in the work of her contemporaries, and looks at her work in the context of contemporary multicultural concerns. No index. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The book concerns the new World Irish, tracing the developing profile of the Irish in America from the Famine forward. The studies draw their material from roughly a one-hundred-year arc of Irish presence and relevance in American life and they would serve as American as well as Irish-American studies.
Though the short story is often regarded as central to the Irish canon, this text was the first comprehensive study of the genre for many years. Heather Ingman traces the development of the modern short story in Ireland from its beginnings in the nineteenth century to the present day. Her study analyses the material circumstances surrounding publication, examining the role of magazines and editors in shaping the form. Ingman incorporates recent critical thinking on the short story, traces international connections, and gives a central part to Irish women's short stories. Each chapter concludes with a detailed analysis of key stories from the period discussed, featuring Joyce, Edna O'Brien and John McGahern, among others. With its comprehensive bibliography and biographies of authors, this volume will be a key work of reference for scholars and students both of Irish fiction and of the modern short story as a genre.
"Michael Pierse is Lecturer in Irish literature at Queen's University Belfast. His research mainly explores the writing and cultural production of Irish working-class life. Over recent years this work has expanded into new multidisciplinary themes and international contexts, including the study of festivals, digital methodologies in public humanities and theatre-as-research practices. Michael has contributed to a range of national and international publications, is the author of Writing Ireland's Working Class: Dublin after O'Casey (2011), and has been awarded several Arts and Humanities Research Council awards and the Vice Chancellor's Award at Queen's"--
A 2019 Prose Award Finalist What is the role of literary studies in an age of Twitter threads and viral news? If the study of literature today is not just about turning to classic texts with age-old questions, neither is it a rejection of close reading or critical inquiry. Through the lived experience of a humanities professor in a rapidly changing world, this book explores how the careful study of literature and culture may be precisely what we need to navigate our dizzying epoch of post-truth politics and ecological urgency.
Of immense value to anyone interested in the Irish story in America.--The Boston Globe. This collection of three generations of Irish immigrant fiction excerpted from novels, magazines, and newspapers provides new insight into the nineteenth-century immigrant experience. It captures the spirit of those who were experiencing the traumas of adjustment and assimilation. The men and women authors of these pieces vividly render the details of immigrant life in a variety of settings, from Virginia and Nebraska to San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston, from 1820 to 1906. Fanning places each selection in its historical and cultural context by means of introductory notes. Together, they provide the most extended, continuous body of literature available to us by members of a single American ethnic group. This new edition provides some additional selections as well as new background material. Charles Fanning is Professor of English at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Ireland is going changes so rapidly and so dramatically that it has left many people, both in Ireland and abroad, wondering where it is headed next, as well as leaving some people wondering where it actually came from. Which direction Ireland? probes a variety of currents and concepts at play in Ireland, examining geographical, historical, social, political, and literary changes that have taken place in both Ireland and Irish-America. It offers cogent insight into those changes and and well-founded projections about the future. While examining the question, Which Direction Ireland? provides encouragement for those who want to make the journey with enthusiasm as well as curiosity.
