Articles
Essays, reviews, and commentary on literature, history, politics, and ideas.
A Restless Imagination
Frank McGuinness is a writer of openness and adventure. Openness to form: while best known as a playwright, while highly regarded as a poet since the 1990s, he has made forays into other genres, writing short fiction in the early…
Inventing the Republic? II
As might be expected, the immediate response to the Rising of those that were or would soon become the leading Irish writers was probably as complex as that of the Irish public more generally. If a generalisation might be risked,…
Idols and Good Old Gods
The arrival of Christianity in Ireland and the unhelpful notion of ‘paganism’
Changing the Question
The triumph of liberal Britain, which survived the eclipse of the party
Percy at the Wake
The troubadour who mangled ‘Moore’s Melodies’ and inspired Joyce
Joyce’s Eye
Modernism and the influence of ‘cinematicity’ on perception
Observing Proportion
The hyphenated music of Maurice Scully’s shadowy airs
Shipyard Radical
The life of Belfast trade unionist and revolutionary socialist James Baird
A Cosmopolitan Voice
A selection of from the pages of the prestigious ‘Dublin Review’
Part of the Union
Fighting for decent salaries and conditions for low-paid civil servants
Back to the Womb
Manchán Magan’s guided tour through the landscapes of ancient Ireland
Many Rooms
A fascinating and at times unflinching autobiography from Paul Brady