The Irishness of Irish Literature

Abstract

Both Ireland’s literary history and how such a small country could produce such a vast amount of prestigious writers are aspects that have been of interest to many. The basis of this research was to, first of all, briefly enquire into the lives and works of prominent, influential, past Irish authors so as to see whether or not contemporary Irish authors follow the literary tradition created by them. In order to do this it was necessary to introduce the term ‘Irishness’, and provide a complete and comprehensive definition as to its veridical significance. From this definition different categories were created in order to classify and analyse both past and present authors’ works. Aspects such as Irish history, politics, mythology, storytelling, and humour along with concise background information of each individual author are discussed throughout. Upon completion, satisfactory results were obtained with regards to contemporary Irish authors, their works, and their influence on Irish literature in general.