The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing: v. 4 & 5 Irish Women's Writing and Tradition

This is the most comprehensive corpus of Irish women's writing ever published. A life-long resource, each encounter prompting fresh insights and new discoveries. Features the work of both familiar and undiscovered or under-appreciated writers. Many of the sources are previously unpublished. This book harnesses the skills and expertise of dozens of scholars and specialists. Interdisciplinary approach allows insight into areas of the Irish experience beyond the reader's area of interest. Biographies and bibliographies of writers facilitate further reading and research. Fully indexed and cross-referenced with earlier volumes, including index to first lines of poetry. Spans a period from 600AD to the end of the end of the Twentieth Century. Many Irish texts appear in translation for the first time allowing unprecedented access to these rare texts.

Review :
A"From medieval spells to contemporary spellings, from eighteenth-century debates over women's education to current controversies about female sexuality, these rich and brilliant volumes are ambitiously abundant in their representation of Irish women's lives, works and ways. It's impossible to imagine a more scrupulous, wide-ranging set of sources for students, scholars and general readers who want to investigate the energetically flourishing literary and political traditions that have been shaped by (and shape) Ireland's women.A"Sandra M. Gilbert, Professor of English, University of California, DavisA"These new volumes are a mighty achievement: the texts and contexts of more than a thousand years of Irish women's writing brilliantly, abundantly presented and comprehended. The editors have redefined the curriculum of studies.A"Seamus Heaney, Nobel LaureateA"I have never seen an anthology which has so drastically extended one's frame of reference on its theme. It goes far beyond the root meaning of an 'anthology' - a literary garland - and instead gives us nothing less than the materials for a cultural history of women in Ireland. It is a unique piece of work and cannot fail to become a landmark of learning worldwide. Worth the wait; every bit of it.A"Joep Leerssen, Professor of Modern European Literature, University of Amsterdam.A"A monumental and heroic work of collective scholarship that will transform our understanding of the Irish literary tradition. Yes she said yes yes.A"Elaine Showalter, Professor of English, Princeton University