Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture

Paige Reynolds

Description

An exploration of the diverse intelligent and informed approaches to the Irish culture produced in the wake of high modernism.

Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture explores manifestations of the themes, forms and practices of high modernism in Irish literature and culture produced subsequent to this influential movement.

Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture closely examines how Irish writers and artists from the mid-twentieth century onwards grapple with the legacies bequeathed by modernism and seek to forge new modes of expression for modern and contemporary culture.

Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture brings together many of the most respected and renowned scholars in Irish and modernist studies, demonstrating the diversity of intellectual approaches to the Irish culture produced in the wake of high modernism.

Notes on Contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Paige Reynolds; Section One: Literature and Language; 1. Anne Fogarty, ‘A World of Hotels and Gaols’: Women Novelists and the Spaces of Irish Modernism, 1930-1932; 2. Lucy Collins, ‘I Knew What It Meant/Not to Be at All’: Death and the (Modernist) Afterlife in the Work of Irish Women Poets of the 1940s; 3. Leah Flack, ‘Whatever Is Given/Can Always Be Reimagined’: Seamus Heaney’s Indefinite Modernism; 4. Ellen McWilliams, James Joyce and the Lives of Edna O’Brien; 5. Alex Davis, Modernist Topoi and Late Modernist Praxis in Recent Irish Poetry (with Special Reference to the Work of David Lloyd); 6. Sarah McKibben, ‘Amach Leis!’ (Out with It!): Modernist Inheritances in Micheál Ó Conghaile’s ‘Athair’ (Father); Section Two: Institutions, Art and Performance; 7. Andrew A. Kuhn, ‘Make a Letter Like a Monument’: Remnants of Modernist Literary Institutions in Ireland; 8. Róisín Kennedy, Storm in a Teacup: Irish Modernist Art; 9. Linda King, ‘Particles of Meaning’: The Modernist Afterlife in Irish Design; 10. Maria Pramaggiore, Animal Afterlives: Equine Legacies in Irish Visual Culture; 11. Aoife McGrath, Choreographies of Irish Modernity; 12. Emilie Pine, The Modernist Impulse in Irish Theatre: Anu Productions and the Monto; Afterword: David James, The Poetics of Perpetuation; Index.

Sujets

• General officer
• Literary criticism
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 22 septembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783085750
• Langue: English

Extrait

Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture
ANTHEM IRISH STUDIES
The Anthem Irish Studies series brings together innovative scholarship on Irish literature, culture and history. The series includes both interdisciplinary work and outstanding research within particular disciplines and combines investigations of Ireland with scholarship on Irish diasporas.
Series Editor
Marjorie Howes – Boston College, USA
Editorial Board
Síghle Bhreathnach Lynch – National Gallery of Ireland, Ireland
Nicholas Canny – National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
Brian Ó Conchubhair – University of Notre Dame, USA
Elizabeth Butler Cullingford – University of Texas at Austin, USA
R. F. Foster – University of Oxford, UK
Susan Cannon Harris – University of Notre Dame, USA
Margaret Kelleher – University College Dublin, Ireland
J. Joseph Lee – New York University, USA
Riana O’Dwyer – National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
Diarmuid Ó Giollain – University of Notre Dame, USA
Kevin O’Neill – Boston College, USA
Paige Reynolds – College of the Holy Cross, USA
Anthony Roche – University College Dublin, Ireland
Joseph P. Valente – University at Buffalo, SUNY, USA
Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture
Edited by Paige Reynolds
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2016
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA
© 2016 Paige Reynolds editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters © individual contributors
The moral right of the authors has been asserted.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.
ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-573-6 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-573-8 (Hbk)
This title is also available as an e-book.
Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction Paige Reynolds
Section One: LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE
Chapter 1. ‘A World of Hotels and Gaols’: Women Novelists and the Spaces of Irish Modernism, 1930–32 Anne Fogarty
Chapter 2. ‘I Knew What It Meant / Not to Be at All’: Death and the (Modernist) Afterlife in the Work of Irish Women Poets of the 1940s Lucy Collins
Chapter 3. ‘Whatever Is Given / Can Always Be Reimagined’: Seamus Heaney’s Indefinite Modernism Leah Flack
Chapter 4. James Joyce and the Lives of Edna O’Brien Ellen McWilliams
Chapter 5. Modernist Topoi and Late Modernist Praxis in Recent Irish Poetry (with Special Reference to the Work of David Lloyd) Alex Davis
Chapter 6. ‘Amach Leis!’ (Out with It!): Modernist Inheritances in Micheál Ó Conghaile’s ‘Athair’ (‘Father’) Sarah McKibben
Section Two: INSTITUTIONS, ART AND PERFORMANCE
Chapter 7. ‘Make a Letter Like a Monument’: Remnants of Modernist Literary Institutions in Ireland Andrew A. Kuhn
Chapter 8. Storm in a Teacup: Irish Modernist Art Róisín Kennedy
Chapter 9. ‘Particles of Meaning’: The Modernist Afterlife in Irish Design Linda King
Chapter 10. Animal Afterlives: Equine Legacies in Irish Visual Culture Maria Pramaggiore
Chapter 11. Choreographies of Irish Modernity: Alternative ‘Ideas of a Nation’ in Yeats’s At the Hawk’s Well and Ó Conchúir’s Cure Aoife McGrath
Chapter 12. The Modernist Impulse in Irish Theatre: Anu Productions and the Monto Emilie Pine
Afterword: The Poetics of Perpetuation David James
Notes on Contributors
Index
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Eileen Gray, Exterior of E.1027, 1926–29.
1.2 Eileen Gray, Interior of E.1027, 1926–29.
7.1a Title page, Padraic Colum, Ten Poems (Dublin: Dolmen, 1957).
7.1b Title page, W. B. Yeats, In the Seven Woods (Dundrum: Dun Emer, 1903).
7.1c Title page, W. B. Yeats, The Cat and the Moon and Certain Poems (Dublin: Cuala, 1924).
7.1d Title page, Liam Miller, ed., The Dolmen Press Yeats Centenary Papers MCMLXV (Dublin: Dolmen, 1968).
7.2 Thomas Kinsella, trans., The Táin , illus. Louis le Brocquy (Dublin: Dolmen, 1969).
7.3 Stéphane Mallarmé, Dice Thrown Never Will Annul Chance , trans., Brian Coffey (Dublin: Dolmen, 1965).
8.1 Dorothy Cross, Teacup , 1997, DVD PAL, 3-minute loop.
8.2 Michael Farrell, Madonna Irlanda , 1977, lithograph, 45 x 61.88 cm. (17.7 x 24.4 in.).
8.3 Louis le Brocquy, A Family , 1951, oil on canvas, 147 x 185 cm.
8.4 Sean Scully, Figure in Grey , 2004, oil on linen, 299.7 x 256.5 cm.
9.1 Michael Scott, Irish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
9.2 Stella Steyn, Rn nnn, 1931–32.
9.3 Jan de Fouw, Britain, 1959, screenprinted poster.
9.4 Alvin Lustig, book jacket for Exiles by James Joyce (New Directions Books, 1947).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture stems from the March 2014 symposium ‘Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature’ convened in Dublin at Boston College – Ireland. Designed and organized as part of my tenure as the William B. Neenan Visiting Fellow, this symposium brought together academics from Ireland and abroad working in modernism across a variety of disciplines to consider how Irish artists from the mid-twentieth century forward have engaged and recalibrated high modernism’s formal innovations, thematic concerns and cultural practices. This collection arose from a desire to extend and share the symposium’s exhilarating conversations. The interdisciplinary nature of modernist and Irish studies – exemplified by the audience in attendance that day – as well as the analytical possibilities generated by comparative essays from among different fields, invited further considerations of a wider array of cultural institutions, objects and practices in order to flesh out more fully the topic of ‘modernist afterlives’ .
For the opportunity to serve as the 2013 Neenan Visiting Fellow at Boston College – Ireland, I thank Thomas Hachey, then executive director, Center for Irish Programs at Boston College, and Mike Cronin, academic director, Boston College – Ireland. Along with Mike, Thea Gilien, head of programmes, and Claire McGowan, programmes coordinator, enriched my tenure as the Neenan Fellow with their generous support and warm company – attributes showcased during our beautifully orchestrated symposium staged with help from Laoise Ní Dhonnchú. For the success of the symposium, my thanks to the faculty and students in attendance, who shared their intelligence and thoughtful engagement with the topic. My particular appreciation goes out to our opening keynote, David James, as well as to the day’s speakers, Lucy Collins, Alex Davis, Anne Fogarty, Patrick Lonergan, Ellen McWilliams and Emilie Pine. Thanks as well to Margaret Kelleher and Claire Connolly, who chaired the two panels. And of course, tremendous thanks to the volume’s contributors, who have produced remarkable essays for this collection.
Marjorie Howes, editor of the Anthem Irish Studies series, offered early and ongoing support for this project, and anonymous readers provided valuable suggestions for improvement. The staff at Anthem Press helped to make the publication process a smooth one, and Steve Csipke eased the final stages of publication with his adept indexing of the contents. The College of the Holy Cross, through support from the Committee for Faculty Scholarship and the Arthur J. O’Leary Fellowship, awarded financial assistance to this collection. Sean Scully Studio and Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane generously granted permission to reproduce Sean Scully’s Figure in Grey for the collection’s cover image.
Finally, as always, thanks to Mario and Asher Pereira for supporting my enthusiasm for Irish literature and culture and the complicated travel plans it sometimes engenders, as well as to Margaret Kelleher for her generous hospitality and always enlivening friendship.
INTRODUCTION
Paige Reynolds
Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture explores how the themes, forms and practices of high modernism are manifest in Irish literature and culture produced subsequent to that cultural movement. In a bracing set of essays – ranging not only among literary genres, but also among practices such as dance, publishing, design and film – this collection considers how Irish writers and artists from the mid-twentieth century forward engage with modernism as they endeavour to forge new modes of expression.
The character and chronology of modernism continue to be subjects of heated debate, though critical consensus defines literary modernism broadly as a quest to ‘make it new’ (in the words of Ezra Pound ) and frequently locates its heyday between 1880 and 1939 – an endpoint coinciding with the start of World War II and the publication of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake . Since the advent of the ‘new modernist studies ’ in the 1990s, we have come to accept that modernism spans disciplines and did not unfold exclusively between 1890 and 1922 in a Paris salon, London drawing room or Manhattan gall