This is the first comprehensive history of Irish literature in both its major languages. The twenty-eight chapters in this two-volume history provide an authoritative chronological survey of the Irish literary tradition, both in Irish and English. Spanning fifteen centuries of literary achievement, the two volumes range from the earliest medieval Latin texts to the late twentieth century. The contributors, drawn from a range of Irish, British and North American universities, are internationally renowned experts in their fields. The Cambridge History of Irish Literature comprises an unprecedented synthesis of research and information, a detailed narrative of one of the world's richest literary traditions, and innovative and challenging new readings. No critical work of this scale has been attempted for Irish literature before. Featuring a detailed chronology and guides to further reading for each chapter, this magisterial project will remain the key reference book for literature in Ireland for generations to come.

This is the second volume of a two-part collection following on from O'Leary's "Gaelic Prose in the Irish Free State 1922-1939". The first part, "Irish Interior: Keeping Faith with the Past in Gaelic Prose, 1940-1951", was published in 2010. "Writing Beyond the Revival" explores the evolving ideology that inspired the successful campaign of writers such as Ciaran and Brian O Nuallain, and Cathal O Sandair for artistic independence from the restrictive demands of the language revival. The real progress made by writers such as Seamus O Neill with "Tonn Tuile" (1947) and Tarlach O hUid in his story collection "Taobh Thall den Teorainn" (1950) are also examined. The book includes a detailed discussion of Gaelic theatre when, under the direction of Ernest Blythe, the Abbey made the development and performance of Irish-language scripts a central element in its national mission. In revealing the vast output of writing in Irish for non-Irish readers, Philip O'Leary provides an invaluable guide for anyone studying or interested in the literature, languages, society and politics of Ireland.

This is the first volume of a two-part collection following on from O'Leary's "Gaelic Prose in the Irish Free State 1922-1939". Although the 1940s are often seen as a period of lowered post-Renaissance expectations for Irish writers of English, they were years of considerable creative ferment for writers of Irish. Virtually nothing has been written about writing in Irish during and just after the Second World War. "Irish Interior" explores the issues within, but not strictly confined to the cultural nationalism of the language movement. O'Leary draws on a wide range work, exploring writers including Seamus O Grianna, Sean Mac Maolain and Padraig O Siochfradha. The study concludes with a discussion of Mairtin O Cadhain and Brian O Nuallain, who consciously subverted the dominant elegiac or idealising paradigms in their treatment of the Gaeltacht.

Irish-language theatre has at times been on the fringes of Ireland's cultural landscape - invisible and underground - but its influence can be seen all over the island of Ireland. An Underground Theatre is the first full-length study of playwrights working in the Irish language in the pivotal 1930-80 period. In this landmark volume Philip O'Leary analyses the works of Mairead Ni Ghrada, Seamus O Neill, Eoghan O Tuairisc, Sean O Tuama, and Criostoir O Floinn and discusses the production history of their plays and the critical reception of first productions and major revivals. O'Leary also outlines the beginnings of drama in Irish in the early twentieth century and provides important historical context. The developments in Irish-language theatre since 1980 are also discussed in this important contribution to Irish theatre studies. Using a wide range of sources, O'Leary gives a thorough evaluation of five of the most significant Irish-language playwrights and charts the monumental influence and reach of their work.

A continuation of the author's previous path-breaking book on the prose literature of the Gaelic Revival. For the first time, the development of a modern literature in Irish following the War of Independence and Civil War is outlined and analysed. This period saw an outpouring of book-length works in Irish from the state publishing agency An Gum, and the frequency and production of new plays, both original and translated, have never been approached since. Philip O'Leary has investigated all of these works as well as journalism and manuscript material. This book fills a large gap and will raise scholarly awareness of a major neglected aspect of the Irish cultural renaissance. The many quotations from the works discussed have been translated into English by the author, with the original Irish versions provided in the notes. Short biographies of the leading figures are given in an appendix.

There was no native tradition of theatre in Irish. Thus, language revivalists were forced to develop the genre ex nihilo if there was to be a Gaelic drama that was not entirely made up of translations. The earliest efforts to do so at the beginning of the 20th century were predictably clumsy at best, and truly dreadful at worst. Yet by the 1950s, a handful of Gaelic playwrights were producing plays in Irish worthy of comparison not only with those by their Irish contemporaries working in English but also with drama being produced elsewhere in Europe as well as in North America. Obviously, Gaelic drama transitioned with surprising speed from what one early critic called 'the Ralph Royster Doyster Stage' to this new level of sophistication. This book argues that this transition was facilitated by the achievements of a handful of playwrights - Piaras Beaslai, Gearoid O Lochlainn, Leon O Broin, Seamus de Bhilmot, and Walter Macken - who between 1910 and 1950 wrote worthwhile new plays that dealt with subjects and themes of contemporary interest to Irish-speaking audiences, in the process challenging their fellow dramatists, introducing Gaelic actors to new developments and styles in world theatre, and educating Gaelic audiences to demand more from theatre in Irish than a night out or a chance to demonstrate their loyalty to the revivalist cause. This book, which discusses in some detail all of the extant plays by these five transitional playwrights, fills a gap in our knowledge of theatre in Irish (and indeed of theatre in Ireland in general), in the process providing clearer context for the appreciation of the work of their successors, playwrights who continue to produce first-rate work in Irish right to the present day.

Father Patrick Dinneen is justly famous as the compiler of Focloir Gaedhilge agus Bearla / An Irish-English Dictionary. His ideas reached a fairly wide audience in the nationalist community through his Irish-language column in The Leader, a column he contributed to with very few exceptions every week for more than twenty years. As the first real columnist writing in Irish, Dinneen used these newspaper pieces to deal with an impressively diverse range of topics, from American racism, to English poetry, to the history and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, but predictably enough he devoted most of his attention to Irish affairs, leaving readers in little doubt about his feelings on issues of the day such as Home Rule, education, the labour movement, the Easter Rising, the Civil War. Father Patrick Dinneen was a prolific and highly opinionated controversialist, engaging with gusto in almost all of the political and cultural debates in Ireland in the first three decades of the twentieth century. The Queen of the Hearth is a significant document, as an insight into the ideas of a major Irish-Ireland intellectual on one of the most important political, social, and moral questions of his time. It is an extended insight into the kind of thinking that lies behind the articles dealing with women and the family in DeValera's 1937 Constitution. This intriguing work offers the original text preceded by a general introduction by leading Irish studies scholar Philip O'Leary.

The Gaelic Revival has long fascinated scholars of political history, nationalism, literature, and theater history, yet studies of the period have neglected a significant dimension of Ireland's evolution into nationhood: the cultural crusades mounted by those who believed in the centrality of the Irish language to the emergent Irish state.

This book attempts to remedy that deficiency and to present the lively debates within the language movement in their full complexity, citing documents such as editorials, columns, speeches, letters, and literary works that were influential at the time but all too often were published only in Irish or were difficult to access. Cautiously employing the terms "nativist" and "progressive" for the turnings inward and toward the European continent manifested in different authors, this study examines the strengths and weaknesses of contrasting positions on the major issues confronting the language movement. Moving from the early collecting or retelling of folklore through the search for heroes in early Irish history to the reworking of ancient Irish literary materials by retelling it in modern vernacular Irish, O'Leary addresses the many debates and questions concerning Irish writing of the period. His study is a model for inquiries into the kind of linguistic-literary movement that arises during intense nationalism.

Gaelic Prose in the Irish Free State, 1922-1939 is a continuation of Philip O'Leary's previous path-breaking book on the prose literature of the Gaelic Revival. The period following the War of Independence and Civil War saw an outpouring of book-length works in Irish from the state publishing agency An Gum. The frequency and production of new plays, both original and translated, have never been approached since. O'Leary has investigated all of these works, as well as journalism and manuscript material, and discusses them in a lively and often humorous manner. Several writers known for their work in English, such as Liam O'Flaherty, Sean O'Faolain, and Frank O'Connor, who were either writing on occasion in Irish or engaging in debates within the Gaelic movement, emerge as important figures.

With the publication of Gaelic Prose in the Irish Free State, 1922-1939, we have at last an authoritative and balanced account of this major but neglected aspect of the Irish cultural renaissance. This will be an essential reference book for anyone interested in Irish literature in the twentieth century.