Writing Ireland's Working Class: Dublin After O'Casey - Hardcover

Pierse, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0230272274 ISBN 13: 9780230272279

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Synopsis

As a social other, Ireland s urban working class inhabits a non-place in the national narrative, a place beset by galling levels of poverty and low social mobility. Its exclusion is not just social and economic, but cultural as well. Working-class Dublin in particular elicits little good press, and less in terms of academic commentary or cultural appreciation, so where and how does it appear in literature? Exploring the fiction and plays of this marginalised community after Seán O Casey, this book breaks new ground in Irish Studies scholarship, charting alternative directions for academic research and unearthing submerged narratives in the history of Irish culture. Most of the works examined have received little or no critical commentary to date, yet this book makes a compelling case for their centrality to the history and appreciation of Irish literature. From O Casey to Roddy Doyle, a rich tapestry of urban life is illuminated and explored, which presents a robust challenge to stereotyped and staid views of Irish life and literature.

About this title

Product Description

By Pierse, Michael ( Author ) [ Writing Ireland's Working Class: Dublin After O'Casey By Dec-2010 Hardcover

Review

'Sometimes books cross your path in which love and scholarship come together. Pierse writes about the culture of the neglected Dublin urban working class with passion and timeliness. [...] This sparkling book will change the scope of Irish studies.'
– Professor Sally R. Munt, Times Higher Education

'[Writing Ireland's Working Class] deserves to be read by anyone interested not only in Irish cultural studies, but also in the shape and flow of class dynamics within Irish society [... It] has provided a strong, cogent analysis from which future debates and discussions can develop and grow. [...] It's a marvelous achievement, insightful and provocative, for which Pierse richly deserves our praise and thanks.'
– Dr Conor McCabe, Irish Left Review

'A huge step forward in the overdue recovery and evaluation of Irish working-class writing, a labour of love in memory of those who often found neither labour nor love, yet, as the plays and novels discussed suggest, 'for a' that' retained a zest for life.'
- H. Gustav Klaus, University of Rostok, Germany
 
'This is a work which is rigorous in its commitment, not simply to its textual subjects, but to the larger cultural and social framework in which the study seeks to locate them [...] it can be strongly recommended to all those weary of the over-representation in criticism of certain Irish literary tropes and who might, following the Foreword, be interested in considering the potential re-shaping of the values and methods of the discipline of Irish Studies.'
- Professor Shaun Richards, University of Staffordshire, Irish University Review (Spring/Summer 2012)

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0230272274
• ISBN 13: 9780230272279
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 354