Irish Autobiography: Stories of Self in the Narrative of a Nation(7 Reimagining Ireland)

Ireland has passed through numerous identity crises in the last century, keeping the meaning of Irishness in constant flux. This book explores how diverse writers have positioned their life stories within the wider narrative of the nation’s development. Examining the wealth of autobiographical texts written by Irish writers in the twentieth century, including W.B. Yeats, Tomás O’Crohan, Frank O’Connor, Brendan Behan, Frank McCourt and Nuala O’Faolain, the study highlights the plurality of Irish identity and the main characteristics which typify the genre of Irish autobiography.
In charting the social and cultural history of Ireland through the first-hand accounts of the country’s most celebrated writers, the author also identifies important overlaps between fiction and memory, finds intersections with folklore and the short story, and draws out relationships within and between texts. The book repositions the important and often overlooked genre of Irish autobiography by highlighting its importance within both Irish Studies and the field of Autobiography and by opening up the ways in which lives can be written and read.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Theoretical discussion including the preoccupation with genre classification – Main theorists and key texts – Historical development of the Genre – Connections with literature, nationalism, history and gender – Socio-cultural influences on writers – Autobiographies of Blaskets and Anglo-Irish writers – Close readings of J.M. Synge, W.B. Yeats, George Moore, Lady Gregory, Tomás O’Crohan, Maurice O’Sullivan, Peig Sayers – Relationship between translators and authors of Irish language texts – Experiences of two peripheral groups during the formation of Irish identity after independence – Influential mid-century writers: Frank O’Connor, Sean O’Faolain, Brendan Behan, Christy Brown – Role of War of Independence and social conditions which followed – Isolation of the Irish self represented in autobiography – Connection between Irish short story and autobiography – The role of emigration and the diaspora on late twentieth-century conceptions of Irishness – Close readings of Frank McCourt, John McGahern, Nuala O’Faolain and Nell McCafferty – Ideas of nostalgia, ‘marketing’ of the Irish life story and readers’ responses – Personal relationships which exist within and across autobiographies – The future development of the genre, including collaborative life writing and web technology.

About the Author :
The Author: Claire Lynch was educated at the University of Kent and holds a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on contemporary Irish literature and genre borderlines in life writing. She currently teaches in the Graduate School at Brunel University, London.

Review :
«(...) Lynch’s book is a valuable contribution to the discussion of life writing, a subject which should attract more critical attention in the years to come.» (Christina Hunt Mahony, Irish Literary Supplement)
«‘Irish Autobiography’ moves beyond the more exploratory nature of other studies of Irish life writing. This is a skillfully articulated study that offers thought-provoking additions to a developing field in Irish Studies.» (Ann Nicodemi, New Hibernia Review)