Irish Modernism
Modernism in Ireland was bound up with major social and political factors during the first part of the twentieth century, especially the effects of independence…
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The Irish War of Independence and The Irish Civil War
The Irish War of Independence (Irish: Cogadh na Saoirse), also known as the Anglo–Irish War, began in January 1919 as a guerrilla war waged by…
Irish Literary Revival
The Irish Literary Revival — also known as the ‘Irish Literary Renaissance’ or ‘The Celtic Twilight’ — describes a movement of increased literary and intellectual…
Drama, Theater and Performance Subject Overview
This brief preamble will introduce the kinds of material the reader can expect to find in the entries treating drama, theater, and performance, and suggest…
Modernism in Europe
We are living in a very singular moment of history. It is a moment of crisis, in the literal sense of that word. In every…
Parnell, Charles Stewart (1846–1891)
Charles Stewart Parnell was the first president of the Irish Land League (1879) and the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party (1879–1891). Born to a…
Coffey, Brian (1905–1995)
Brian Coffey was an Irish modernist poet whose life and work are closely associated with fellow Irishmen Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), Denis Devlin (1908–1959), and George…
Joyce, James (1882–1941)
James Joyce (1882–1941) was an Irish modernist author famous for his experimentalism and for writing about Dublin. All of his major works – from the…
Jellett, Mainie (Mary Harriet) (1897–1944)
Mainie Jellett was the most important of a remarkable generation of Anglo-Irish women artists studying in Paris after World War I. She is credited with…
Yeats, Jack Butler (1871-1957)
Jack B. Yeats was born into a remarkably creative Irish family; his father—John Butler Yeats—was a painter and his brother was the poet W.B. Yeats.…
Shaw, George Bernard (1856–1950)
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright, music and drama critic, and political theorist who pioneered the play of ideas as a dramatic genre, was…
Le Brocquy, Louis (1916–2012)
Born in Dublin, Louis le Brocquy became one of the most significant figures in Irish twentieth-century art. After a major role in the organization of…
Besant, Annie (1847–1933)
Born Annie Wood, Annie Besant was an English political activist and spiritualist with Irish heritage. She married British clergyman Frank Besant in 1867; they separated…
Stephenson, Sam (1933–2006)
Sam Stephenson was a controversial Irish architect whose work throughout the 1970s and 1980s sparked debates about brutalist architecture and planning regulations. His best-known works…
Wilde, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills (1854-1900)
Oscar Wilde was an Irish playwright, essayist, author and poet, and one of Victorian England’s chief proponents of Aestheticism. His works are often characterised by…
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
Irish poet, playwright, editor, writer, senator, William Butler Yeats is among the most accomplished authors of the twentieth century; in 1923 he was awarded Nobel…
Fitzgerald, Desmond (1911–1987)
Desmond Fitzgerald was an architect descended from a well-known Irish political family. He worked for Patrick Abercrombie on Mendesohn and Chermayeff’s 1936 De La Warr…
Bowen, Elizabeth (1899–1973)
Born Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen in Dublin, Ireland, on 7 June 1899, the influential and celebrated Anglo-Irish author Elizabeth Bowen produced a body of work…
Montague, Charles Edward (1867–1928)
C.E. Montague was an Anglo-Irish commentator and drama critic for the Manchester Guardian (now the Guardian) from 1890, just after his graduation from the University…
MacGreevy, Thomas (1950–1963)
Thomas MacGreevy was a poet, art and literary critic, and Director of the National Gallery of Ireland (1950-63). MacGreevy was born in 1893, during the…
O’Brien, Flann (1911–1966)
Born Brian O’Nolan (or Ó Nualláin) in Strabane, County Tyrone, the novelist and satirist known as Flann O’Brien is now recognized as a leading figure…
Synge, John Millington (1871–1909)
J. M. Synge (pronounced “Sing”) is best known for his plays, first staged at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, that vividly depicted rural life in Ireland. His…
Celtic Revival
The Celtic Revival was a late-nineteenth-century resurgence of interest in Celtic history, languages and myths that crossed through many disciplines, most notably cultural anthropology, art…
O’Casey, Sean (1880–1964)
Born into Dublin tenement life in 1880, Sean O’Casey (originally John O’Casey) went on to become one of Ireland’s most important playwrights, best known for…
Scott, Michael (1905–1989)
Michael Scott was the foremost proponent of modern architecture in Ireland during the mid-20th century. He specialized in public commissions, particularly hospitals and transport hubs,…