Irish Anglican Literature and Drama : Hybridity and Discord

This book discusses key works by important writers from Church of Ireland backgrounds (from Farquhar and Swift to Beckett and Bardwell), in order to demonstrate that writers from this Irish subculture have a unique socio-political viewpoint which is imperfectly understood. The Anglican Ascendancy was historically referred to as a "middle nation" between Ireland and Britain, and this book is an examination of the various ways in which Irish Anglican writers have signalled their Irish/British hybridity. "British" elements in their work are pointed out, but so are manifestations of their proud Irishness and what Elizabeth Bowen called her communitys "subtle anti-Englishness." Crucially, this book discusses several writers often excluded from the "truly" Irish canon, including (among others) Laurence Sterne, Elizabeth Griffith, and C.S. Lewis. David Clare is Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Studies at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland. He previously held two IRC-funded postdoctoral fellowships at NUI Galway, Ireland. His books include the monograph Bernard Shaws Irish Outlook (2016) and the edited collection The Gate Theatre, Dublin: Inspiration and Craft (2018) Acknowledgements Contents Chapter 1: Introduction: “Middle Nation”? References Chapter 2: Elizabeth Griffith: Celebrating and Extending the Irish Anglican Dramatic Tradition Griffith’s Background and Early Career The Platonic Wife The Double Mistake The School for Rakes A Wife in the Right The Times Conclusion References Chapter 3: The Portraits of the English in the Work of Dion Boucicault, Bram Stoker, and Erskine Childers Dion Boucicault Bram Stoker Erskine Childers Conclusion References Chapter 4: Charlotte Brooke’s Impact on Ascendancy Women Writers from Maria Edgeworth to Lady Gregory Charlotte Brooke Maria Edgeworth Sydney Owenson (a.k.a. Lady Morgan) Mary Balfour Lady Gregory Conclusion References Chapter 5: C.S. Lewis and the Irish Literary Canon W.B. Yeats and Irish Modernists Bernard Shaw James Stephens Jonathan Swift Oliver Goldsmith and Edmund Burke Oscar Wilde Laurence Sterne and George Berkeley Conclusion References Chapter 6: Gradations of Class Among Irish Anglicans in Leland Bardwell’s Girl on a Bicycle References Index