Irish Literature

Introduction

James Joyce

Ireland has produced some of the Western world’s most acclaimed writers: James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and William Butler Yeats, to name a few. Ireland’s literature is the third oldest in all of Europe, second only to Greek and Latin. One of the hallmarks of Irish literature includes an awe of nature and a love of the homeland, particularly prevalent in its poetry. Ireland’s literature also includes a rich and imaginative folklore, with yarns about epic heroes, druids, and leprechauns. But perhaps the most distinguishing quality of Irish literature is its mastery of the satirical. Jonathan Swift was especially skilled at satire, evident in essays like “A Modest Proposal” and novels such as Gulliver’s Travels, both of which poke fun at social foibles and illuminate social dysfunctions.

Essential Facts

1. Jonathon Swift is usually considered the proper beginning of written Irish literature. The first of his popular works, Gulliver’s Travels, was published in 1726.
2. There was an explosion of Irish literature by nineteenth-century novelists, though few now are well known. These writers often wrote about life of the elite class. A notable exception to this genre (and to longevity) is Bram Stoker, who penned the classic horror novel Dracula in 1897.
3. James Joyce (Ulysses) is widely considered to be the father of the literary technique known as “stream of consciousness,” an attempt to record the thought process as it happens without logical or editorial interruptions.
4. William Butler Yeats is still among the most read and respected of the Irish poets. Yeats won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923 in recognition of “his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.”
5. Irish theater also has a colorful history, with playwrights such as William Congreve (“Music has charms to soothe the savage beast” is one of his memorable lines) and Oscar Wilde, whose social comedy The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) continues to delight and be performed over 100 years after its debut.