Ireland, Reading and Cultural Nationalism, 1790-1930: Bringing the Nation to Book

Description

The emergence of an Irish 'common reader' in the nineteenth century had significant implications for the evolution of Irish cultural nationalism. The rise of literacy rates prompted a cultural crisis, with nationalists fearing that the beneficiaries of mass education were being drawn to populist publications emanating from London which were having the effect of eroding Irish identity and corrupting Irish morals. This fear prompted an intensification of cultural nationalist activity at the turn of the century. Andrew Murphy's study, which includes a chapter on W. B. Yeats and the Irish reader, moves freely between historical and literary analysis, and demonstrates how a developing sense of cultural crisis served as an engine for the Irish literary revival. Examining responses to Irish reading habits advanced by a wide range of cultural commentators, Murphy provides a nuanced discussion of theories of nationalism and examines attempts finally to control reading habits through the introduction of censorship.

Andrew Murphy is Professor of English and Director of the Graduate School at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. His authored books include: But the Irish Sea Betwixt Us: Ireland, Colonialism, and Renaissance Literature (1999), Shakespeare in Print: A History and Chronology of Shakespeare Publishing (Cambridge, 2003) and Shakespeare for the People: Working-class Readers, 1800-1900 (Cambridge, 2008).

'This is a genuinely original work, marked by the author's own valuable insights and sound conclusions. It effectively uses existing scholarship, skilfully incorporating it into the author's own theses, and producing an original synthesis of existing and new material. ... It presents original and coherent arguments, well supported by meticulous, wide-ranging research, and is written with conviction and clarity ... an important addition to the literature on Irish cultural nationalism.' James Quinn, Managing Editor, Dictionary of Irish Biography 'The book's greatest pleasures lie in Murphy's close readings of specific texts ... [it] demonstrates how and why Irish nationalists and their adversaries manipulated, fetishized, feared, and contested the printed word, and, as such, offers insights for studies of libraries and reading in other colonial and postcolonial scenarios.' Daphne Dyer Wolf, Libraries: Culture, History, and Society