Irish Writers of the 1930s: The International Dimension

The conservative measures implemented by successive governments of the Irish Free State between 1922 and 1940, including the banning of divorce and widespread censorship of printed materials, have projected an image of Ireland in the 1930s as opposed to the contemporaneous (artistic and) literary effervescence characteristic of continental Europe and North America. Historical analyses of the period are, at times, polarized between a deep provincialism supposedly located in Ireland and creative possibilities of exile for national writers. However, as recent studies on the ‘London Irish’ and on the work of almost forgotten writers have revealed, there existed in the 1930s a vibrant appreciation and response to international politics and artistic and literary innovations. Many Irish writers (Kate O’Brien, Elizabeth Bowen, Sean O’Faolain, Liam O’Flaherty, to name but a few) felt at ease in this climate. Writers who were engaged in anti-fascist activities, for example, were at the center of a myriad of activities that eluded frontiers. Reconsidering Irish literature in the 1930s in light of recent critical work will further enhance an understanding of a decade of writing which, until recently, was subjected to narrow interpretations. At a time when a fledgling democracy was being created in Ireland, the influence of these and other connections in the realm of culture cannot be underestimated. This conference will draw together the existing scholarship on this period and will strengthen it with the critical literature that the conference will generate.