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The
Cambridge History of Irish Literature. Volume I:
To 1890. Volume II: 1890-2000. Margaret Kelleher
& Philip O'Leary, eds. (Cambridge University
Press, 2006. £160.00, €235, $275)
Book
Review
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Seaghán
Ó Murchú • 20 July 2006
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This
evidently, CUP tells us, is available only as a
two-volume set. It's improbable that a purchaser
would be satisfied with only one half of this massive
study anyway. Handsomely bound, in a dignified blue
that reminded me that this hue was anciently Ireland's
traditional national color, and diligently researched
and edited (I only caught two typographical errors
while exploring some of these 1400 pages), this
may be an investment rather than an impulse buy,
but one that should reward the owner richly.
I
provide at the end from the CUP site a list of contributors
and their chapters as a glimpse of their vast range.
The 20th century (and a bit of the 21st ) gets its
own volume, inevitably as the editors note but justifiably.
The scope is appropriately ambitious. O'Leary and
Kelleher note in their introduction that while the
Field Day Anthologies' five volumes now give us
a short shelf of the texts, a correspondingly concise
(yet extensive as much as can be contained between
two sturdy covers) survey of the literary history
and an overview of criticism has been long lacking.
My
own interests meant that I wandered through these
books searching for my own points of interest. Your
grand tour may point you in different directions.
The close attention given Irish-language literature
is rare and I hazard unprecedented in an English-language
publication, and for this the enterprise deserves
acclaim. The Field Day's first three volumes were
less often perhaps bemoaned for their lack of Irish-language
coverage than for their neglect of women contributors
and content. But this fault is rectified by the
efforts of the creators of CHIL.
I
found Gearóid Denvir's entry particularly
informative, as he labors to defeat the prejudice
against prose in favor of poetry in so much 20th
c. criticism. Declan Kiberd, Fintan O'Toole, Máirín
Níc Eoin, George O'Brien, Anthony Roche,
Andrew Carpenter all may be familiar to students
of Irish literature. Their entries keep up an agile
expression of original thinking alongside their
carefully plotted surveys. Thirty-one essayists
offer views that, if at times contentious or cautious,
will last for decades as guidance for the next generation
of scholars.
The
willingness to confront tired tradition propels
Donna Wong's iconoclastic entry on the written and
the oral tradition. Fittingly serving as the transition
ending volume one, it kicks aside facile chronology.
Wong presents her arguments with a verve and wit
that stands out from many of her more circumspect
colleagues in these pages. For all that, given her
topic stresses the fluent teller and not merely
the fixed tale, her energy meets its perfect match
in the diverse old and new narratives that she summons
for inspection.
Resistance
to easy classification also distinguishes, among
others, Bríona Nic Dhiarmada's chapter that
responds to that of Máirín Níc
Eoin earlier in the second volume. The former questions
the notion even of an identifiably consistent and
homogenous 'Irish-language culture', and both authors
present their opinions interspersed with running
commentary on an extensive number of texts that
probably only a handful of people in the world might
know in such depth and breadth. Adding to the effectiveness
of many entries is the fact that the authors were
able to consult each other's drafts or proofs- so
I deduce, although this cross-border cooperation
is not directly acknowledged by the editors. Thus
a conversation among, along with a compilation by,
scholars is documented for us to 'listen' to as
we read. This is what you pay for, I suppose, when
obtaining these books, and at a cost considerably
less than any enrollment in a university class or
summer seminar taught by one of the prominent contributors.
The
Field Day tendency, given its tumultuous dual engendering
into three and two, to separate the male from female,
the Irish from the English, or the oral from the
written tradition is here, also, challenged effectively
by Wong and Níc Dhiarmada. Culturally, as
Ireland rattles old verities; this freshness enters
into these collected ruminations. Many contributors
resist a tendency to slip back, in their investigations,
into ruts left by past (and some present...a few
of whom are named, as Kim McCone is by Wong!) travellers
through Irish literary landscapes.
Philip
O'Leary and Louis de Paor also characterize the
care that the many authors of these volumes bring
to their task. I kept thinking, as I read such essays,
of texts that the entry-maker seemed to have overlooked
in making his or her own case. Invariably, I would
read a page or two on to find that very text cited
appropriately.
A
couple of small criticisms: first, the front TOC
contains only a brief list of chapters and authors,
similar to that I append below. The more extensive
'guide to major subject areas' with expanded topical
chapter sub-headings appears at the back of each
volume preceding its index. I realise the logic
in giving a small index before a fuller one, but
for readers searching for areas more specifically
categorized, the TOC would seem a more logical location;
a topical list could have immediately followed the
compressed and too terse couple of summary TOC pages.
Next,
speaking of indices, they are incomplete. Spot-checking
authors mentioned in the chapters, I found some
included most but not all of the time. At least
author remarked upon in a chapter was not indexed
at all. By the way, no index for the term 'republicanism';
two entries for 'novels, in Northern Ireland'. Minor
complaints mar little the craft that CUP has sponsored.
Solid and handsome, these two volumes represent
the foremost scholars in their fields condensing
decades of their own research and thoughts on dauntingly
extensive topics with efficiency and expertise.
These
two volumes are compact enough to hold and carry,
but hefty in content and generous in value, for
what they offer both in price and print. This CHIL
is worth saving up for. At the cost of what a couple
of stuffed bagfuls of paperbacks from the airport
vendor would provide in mysteries or celebrity bios
or diet manuals, the CHIL gives nourishing sustenance
amidst a junk-food menu of bestsellers. Its audience
may be less than the latest thriller, but the CHIL
should outlast thousands of titles from ephemeral
backlists.
Table
of Contents
Volume
I: Chronology; Introduction; 1. The literature
of medieval Ireland to c. 800: St Patrick to the
Vikings, Tomás Ó Cathasaigh; 2.
The literature of medieval Ireland, 800-1200:
from the Vikings to the Normans, Máire
Ní Mhaonaigh; 3. The literature of later
medieval Ireland, 1200- 1600: from the Normans
to the Tudors, A: Poetry, Marc Caball; B: Prose
literature, Kaarina Hollo; 4. Literature in English,
1550-1690: from the Elizabethan settlement to
the Battle of the Boyne, Anne Fogarty; 5. Literature
in Irish, c.1550-1690: from the Elizabethan settlement
to the Battle of the Boyne, Mícheál
Mac Craith; 6. Prose in English, 1690-1800: from
the Williamite wars to the Act of Union, Ian Campbell
Ross; 7. Poetry in English, 1690-1800: from the
Williamite wars to the Act of Union, Andrew Carpenter;
8. Literature in Irish, 1690-1800: from the Williamite
wars to the Act of Union, Neil Buttimer; 9. Theatre
in Ireland, 1690-1800: from the Williamite wars
to the Act of Union, Christopher Morash; 10. Irish
Romanticism: 1800-1830, Claire Connolly; 11. Prose
writing and drama in English, 1830-1890: from
Catholic emancipation to the fall of Parnell,
Margaret Kelleher; 12. Poetry in English, 1830-1890:
from Catholic emancipation to the fall of Parnell,
Matthew Campbell; 13. Literature in Irish, 1800-
1890: from the Act of Union to the Gaelic League,
Gearóid Denvir; 14. Historical writings,
1690-1890 Clare O'Halloran; 15. Literature and
the oral tradition, Donna Wong.
Volume
II: Introduction, Margaret Kelleher and Philip
O'Leary; 1. Literature and politics, Declan Kiberd;
2. The Irish Renaissance, 1890-1940: poetry in
English, Patrick Crotty; 3. The Irish Renaissance,
1890-1940: prose in English John Wilson Foster;
4. The Irish Renaissance, 1890- 1940: drama in
English, Adrian Frazier; 5. The Irish Renaissance,
1890-1940: literature in Irish, Philip O'Leary;
6. Contemporary prose and drama in Irish: 1940-2000,
Máirín Nic Eoin; 7. Contemporary
poetry in Irish: 1940-2000, Louis de Paor; 8.
Contemporary poetry in English: 1940-2000, Dillon
Johnston and Guinn Batten; 9. Contemporary prose
in English: 1940-2000, George O'Brien; 10. Contemporary
drama in English: 1940-2000, Anthony Roche; 11.
Cinema and Irish literature, Kevin Rockett; 12.
Literary historiography, 1890-2000, Colin Graham;
13. Afterwords: A: Irish-language literature in
the new millennium, Bríona Nic Dhiarmada;
B: Irish literature in English in the new millennium,
Fintan O'Toole.
Contributors
Tomás
Ó Cathasaigh, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh,
Marc Caball, Kaarina Hollo, Anne Fogarty, Mícheál
Mac Craith, Ian Campbell Ross, Andrew Carpenter,
Neil Buttimer, Christopher Morash, Claire Connolly,
Margaret Kelleher, Matthew Campbell, Gearóid
Denvir, Clare O'Halloran, Donna Wong, Declan Kiberd,
Patrick Crotty, John Wilson Foster, Adrian Frazier,
Philip O'Leary, Máirín Nic Eoin, Louis
de Paor, Dillon Johnston, Guinn Batten, George O'Brien,
Anthony Roche, Kevin Rockett, Colin Graham, Bríona
Nic Dhiarmada, Fintan O'Toole.
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