An Irish Literature Reader
Poetry, Prose, Drama, Second Edition

Paper $29.95s   |    0-8156-3046-8    |   2006

A unique anthology expressly designed to give interested readers access to the immense variety and richness of literature written in Ireland.

Description
In a volume that has become a standard text in Irish studies, editors Maureen O'Rourke Murphy and James MacKillop survey thirteen centuries of Irish literature, including old Irish epic and lyric poetry, Irish folksongs and a selection of nineteenth-century prose and poetry. For each author the editors provide a biographical sketch, a brief discussion of how his or her selections relate to a larger body of work, and a selected bibliography. In addition, this new volume also includes a larger sampling of women writers.

Praise for the first edition . . .

"A splendid selection of the best of Irish and Anglo-Irish literature from the eighth century to the present."
Mary Helen Thuente, author of The Harp Re-Strung

"A beautifully sane balance between the past and present and between translation and original. . . . An outstanding contribution, especially to the pedagogy of the subject"
Augustine Martin, University College, Dublin

"Irish Literature: A Reader provides a first-rate introduction for students interested in the full scope of Irish literature."
Adele M. Dalsimer, Boston College

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Author
Maureen O'Rourke Murphy is dean of students and associate professor of English at Hofstra University, past president of the American Committee for Irish Studies, and author of A Guide to Irish Studies in the United States.

James MacKillop is the former president of the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS) and the author of Fionn mac Cumhaill: Celtic Myth in English Literature (also published by Syracuse University Press), The Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, and editor of Contemporary Irish Cinema: From "The Quiet Man" to "Dancing at Lughnasa."

6 x 9, 488 pages, glossary, bibliograghy, selected background readings, index