Modern Irish Autobiography Self, Nation and Society

Modern Irish Autobiography provides the first comprehensive overview of the Irish autobiographical tradition as it has received expression in both Irish and English from the nineteenth-century to the present day. Featuring original essays by leading Irish, British and American critics, the book combines historically grounded analyses of key trends and themes with theoretically informed readings of canonical and non-canonical texts. Focusing mainly on written autobiography, the volume locates Ireland's autobiographers in their historical, literary and ideological contexts and surveys the rich diversity of their achievement.

Liam Harte lectures in Irish literature in the Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages at the University of Ulster. He is the co-editor of Contemporary Irish Fiction: Themes, Tropes, Theories (Palgrave Macmillan, 2000).

Introduction--L.Harte * Irish Nationalist Autobiography in the Nineteenth Century--S.Ryder * Autobiography and the Irish Literary Revival--B.Schrank * Literary Autobiography in Post-Independence Ireland--E.Hughes * Twentieth-Century Irish Women's Autobiography--T.Napier * The Irish Protestant Autobiographical Tradition--B.Sloan * Twentieth-Century Gaelic Autobiography--M.Nic Eoin * Oral History and Irish Life Writing--B.Gray * Irish Autobiographical Fiction Since Joyce--E.Patten * Irish Emigrant Autobiography--L.Harte * Political Autobiography and the Northern Ireland 'Troubles'--S.Hopkins * Childhood and Autobiography in Contemporary Ireland--J.M.Smith * The Practice of Autobiography--G.O'Brien * Bibliography * Index