Search results for ""author philip o'leary""
University College Dublin Press Gaelic Prose in the Irish Free State 1922-1939
A continuation of the author's previous path-breaking book on the prose literature of the Gaelic Revival. For the first time, the development of a modern literature in Irish following the War of Independence and Civil War is outlined and analysed. This period saw an outpouring of book-length works in Irish from the state publishing agency An Gum, and the frequency and production of new plays, both original and translated, have never been approached since. Philip O'Leary has investigated all of these works as well as journalism and manuscript material. This book fills a large gap and will raise scholarly awareness of a major neglected aspect of the Irish cultural renaissance. The many quotations from the works discussed have been translated into English by the author, with the original Irish versions provided in the notes. Short biographies of the leading figures are given in an appendix.
£75.00
Cork University Press Setting the Stage: Transitional playwrights in Irish 1910-1950
There was no native tradition of theatre in Irish. Thus, language revivalists were forced to develop the genre ex nihilo if there was to be a Gaelic drama that was not entirely made up of translations. The earliest efforts to do so at the beginning of the 20th century were predictably clumsy at best, and truly dreadful at worst. Yet by the 1950s, a handful of Gaelic playwrights were producing plays in Irish worthy of comparison not only with those by their Irish contemporaries working in English but also with drama being produced elsewhere in Europe as well as in North America. Obviously, Gaelic drama transitioned with surprising speed from what one early critic called 'the Ralph Royster Doyster Stage' to this new level of sophistication. This book argues that this transition was facilitated by the achievements of a handful of playwrights - Piaras Beaslai, Gearoid O Lochlainn, Leon O Broin, Seamus de Bhilmot, and Walter Macken - who between 1910 and 1950 wrote worthwhile new plays that dealt with subjects and themes of contemporary interest to Irish-speaking audiences, in the process challenging their fellow dramatists, introducing Gaelic actors to new developments and styles in world theatre, and educating Gaelic audiences to demand more from theatre in Irish than a night out or a chance to demonstrate their loyalty to the revivalist cause. This book, which discusses in some detail all of the extant plays by these five transitional playwrights, fills a gap in our knowledge of theatre in Irish (and indeed of theatre in Ireland in general), in the process providing clearer context for the appreciation of the work of their successors, playwrights who continue to produce first-rate work in Irish right to the present day.
£35.00
University College Dublin Press An Underground Theatre: Major Playwrights in the Irish Language 1930-80
Irish-language theatre has at times been on the fringes of Ireland's cultural landscape - invisible and underground - but its influence can be seen all over the island of Ireland. An Underground Theatre is the first full-length study of playwrights working in the Irish language in the pivotal 1930-80 period. In this landmark volume Philip O'Leary analyses the works of Mairead Ni Ghrada, Seamus O Neill, Eoghan O Tuairisc, Sean O Tuama, and Criostoir O Floinn and discusses the production history of their plays and the critical reception of first productions and major revivals. O'Leary also outlines the beginnings of drama in Irish in the early twentieth century and provides important historical context. The developments in Irish-language theatre since 1980 are also discussed in this important contribution to Irish theatre studies. Using a wide range of sources, O'Leary gives a thorough evaluation of five of the most significant Irish-language playwrights and charts the monumental influence and reach of their work.
£42.00
Pennsylvania State University Press The Prose Literature of the Gaelic Revival, 1881–1921: Ideology and Innovation
The Gaelic Revival has long fascinated scholars of political history, nationalism, literature, and theater history, yet studies of the period have neglected a significant dimension of Ireland's evolution into nationhood: the cultural crusades mounted by those who believed in the centrality of the Irish language to the emergent Irish state.This book attempts to remedy that deficiency and to present the lively debates within the language movement in their full complexity, citing documents such as editorials, columns, speeches, letters, and literary works that were influential at the time but all too often were published only in Irish or were difficult to access. Cautiously employing the terms "nativist" and "progressive" for the turnings inward and toward the European continent manifested in different authors, this study examines the strengths and weaknesses of contrasting positions on the major issues confronting the language movement. Moving from the early collecting or retelling of folklore through the search for heroes in early Irish history to the reworking of ancient Irish literary materials by retelling it in modern vernacular Irish, O'Leary addresses the many debates and questions concerning Irish writing of the period. His study is a model for inquiries into the kind of linguistic-literary movement that arises during intense nationalism.
£39.95
