Contemporary Irish Writers
March 29th, 2010 by TaniazI recently got the opportunity to speak to John Rickard, an English professor at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. He is the General Editor for an upcoming series of books to be published by Bucknell University Press in 2007, on Contemporary Irish Writers.“We are reviving a series that the press did decades ago,” he told me. “It was highly regarded, both here and in Europe, and the Director, Greg Clingham, suggested that we revive and update it.” Rickard speaks with enthusiasm about what’s been happening with Irish writing over the last few decades. He described the Ireland after independence, noting that after the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State entered a staunch post colonial phase. “After you get your enemy out of your country, you then have to get them out of your head.” Ireland became a place where only Irish ideas and morals were considered good enough, and everything else was rejected. “Ireland was to stand on its own as a bastion of moral and intellectual superiority in those days. It was drummed into people’s heads and it created an isolationist atmosphere.” To read more about irish writers Eric Raymond montreal magician
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