The Revival in Irish Literature and Culture

Offers a new understanding of the Irish Revival, its foundational attitudes and ideals, and its continuing historical relevance.

Seeks to clarify the foundational ideals of the Irish Revival and to challenge misunderstandings about its aims and accomplishments by examining literary and cultural texts and analyzing the social and political impact of revivalism up to the present day.The Revival in Irish Literature and Culture offers a wide variety of new work on the Revival and the ideals, attitudes and perspectives that animate it, from the late-nineteenth century to the present day. The contributors to the volume, each in their own fashion, explore the social, political and cultural expressions of revivalism in literature but also in film, music, dance, commemorations, museum exhibits, social movements, and political activism. The volume offers new perspectives on established figures and ideas as well as new research on forgotten or under-represented revivalists, particularly women, whose cultural and political activities were instrumental in forming the foundations of the Revival and whose ongoing involvement shapes revivalism in new social and cultural contexts. One of the most important thematic strands linking the chapters is the function of time-our understanding of the historical “sense of the past” but also the efficacy of new temporal frameworks.