«The Centre for Irish and Celtic Studies at the University of Ulster hosted at Coleraine, between the 24th and 26th August 2000, a very successful and informative conference on ‘Celtic Literatures in the Twentieth Century’. The lectures and the discussions were of a high standard, and it was the intention of the organisers to edit and publish the proceedings as soon as possible thereafter. Unfortunately, due to dif culties in assembling some of the papers, this was not possible and, consequently, publication has been delayed much longer than was originally anticipated. Despite this delay, we feel that those papers which we have received merit publication at this time, not only because of their intrinsicmerits, but also because they represent the views of the authors on their respective topics at the turn of the twenty rst century and will hopefully be of value to those interested in the state of the modern Celtic literatures.»

Provides a history of literature in the Irish language from the fifth century to the twentieth. This book traces the development of manuscripts from the Latin records made by monastic scribes and the vernacular works of ecclesiastics and lay scholars. It describes the fall of the native order and offers appraisals of the work of Irish writers.

When Irish culture and economics underwent rapid changes during the Celtic Tiger Years, Anne Enright, Colum McCann and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne began writing. Now that period of Irish history has closed, this study uncovers how their writing captured that unique historical moment. By showing how Ní Dhuibhne's novels act as considered arguments against attempts to disavow the past, how McCann's protagonists come to terms with their history and how Enright's fiction explores connections and relationships with the female body, Susan Cahill's study pinpoints common concerns for contemporary Irish writers: the relationship between the body, memory and history, between generations, and between past and present. Cahill is able to raise wider questions about Irish culture by looking specifically at how writers engage with the body. In exploring the writers' concern with embodied histories, related questions concerning gender, race, and Irishness are brought to the fore. Such interrogations of corporeality alongside history are imperative, making this a significant contribution to ongoing debates of feminist theory in Irish Studies.

• Arthur in the Celtic Languages is a reliable up-to-date introduction to the field. • It is the only book covering Arthurian literature and traditions in the Celtic languages (Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Irish, Scottish Gaelic) • This book covers medieval and modern literatures. • It also discusses folklore, ballads and other popular traditions as well as place-names.

This Guide surveys existing criticism and theory, making clear the key critical debates, themes and issues surrounding a wide variety of Irish poets, playwrights and novelists. It relates Irish literature to debates surrounding issues such as national identity, modernity and the Revival period, armed struggle, gender, sexuality and post colonialism.

The Irish Century concludes in this climactic novel; Llywelyn's masterpiece is complete The Irish Century series is the story of the Irish people's epic struggle for independence through the tumultuous course of the twentieth century. Morgan Llywelyn's magisterial multi-novel chronicle of that story began with 1916, which was followed by 1921, 1949, and 1972. It now concludes with 1999: A Novel of the Celtic Tiger and the Search for Peace. 1999 brings the story from 1972 to the disarmament talks and beginnings of reconciliation among the Irish at the end of the twentieth century. Barry Halloran, strong, clever, and passionately patriotic, who was the central character of 1972, remains central. Now a crippled photojournalist, he marries his beloved Barbara Kavanaugh, and steps back from the armed struggle. Through his work he documents the historic events that take us from the horrific aftermath of Bloody Sunday through the decades of The Troubles to the present. This is a noble conclusion to an historical mega-novel that will be read for years. The Irish Century Novels 1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion 1921: The Great Novel of the Irish Civil War 1949: A Novel of the Irish Free State 1972: A Novel of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution 1999: A Novel of the Celtic Tiger and the Search for Peace At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Irish travellers or 'tinkers' have appeared as characters in Irish literature since the early nineteenth century. Representations of this semi-nomadic cultural and ethnic minority in works by non-traveller authors almost invariably function in some way within the context of Irish identity politics, whereby the 'tinker' often serves as a 'primitive' Other to a modern, civilized Irish Self. This study considers the 'tinker' character in a large body of serious and popular literary texts, some well known, others rarely if ever discussed, and traces how the literary construct of the 'tinker' figure as domestic or foreign Other evolves over time. Three chapters concentrate on specific historical contexts, as the 'tinker' shifts from being a relatively straightforward scapegoat in the literature of the early nineteenth century, to being a more complex and ambiguous embodiment of both the aspirations and anxieties of the Anglo-Irish writers of the Revival, to being a barometer of aspects of modernity and regression in the mid-twentieth-century Irish Republic. Three further chapters focus on thematic contexts that have particular relevance for the development of the 'tinker' figure: children's literature from and about Ireland; fabulist narratives, particularly those with plot configurations derived from Celtic mythology; and crime and detective fiction set in Ireland. Finally the way in which individual travellers represent themselves in autobiographical narratives of the late twentieth century is considered, often in response to the fictional 'tinker' stereotype that has persisted in sedentary society and its cultural expressions for centuries.