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Cover of Irish Feminisms, 1810-1930

Irish Feminisms, 1810-1930

Edited by Mary S. Pierse

  • Published: 14 Dec 2009
  • DOI: 10.4324/9780415475297
  • Set ISBN: 9780415475297

Set Contents

Literary Approaches


Literary expression is a vitally important source and conduit for all explorations of feminism. The very medium can be the message, whether it is the mere fact of daring to publish, or the choice of a genre that has previously been the cherished and exclusive preserve of those who deny equality to women writers. Within the genre and the work, feminism is discernible in the author’s expressed opinions, in the other voices of the text, in the tone, and also in the portrayal of fictional characters through actions, words and development. The result is a multiplicity of shades and shapes of feminism, with some unexpected diversity and similarity between them. This volume provides ample evidence of that variety. Many of the authors – including Maud Gonne McBride, Lady Gregory, Thomas MacDonagh and Lady Wilde – have achieved prominence in more than one genre, and also in different spheres. Thus, added interest is attached to the consciously literary treatments of their subject matter, and speculation is prompted on their intended audience or readership. In several cases, the engagement with feminist issues is not conducted overtly or conceptually but the literary treatment nonetheless allows discernment of societal attitudes and authorial position. Fixed ideas on gender roles are openly queried by Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington as she addresses sex bias in language, but such beliefs are more obliquely approached in the poetry of James Stephens; nationalism combines with feminism in Lady Gregory’s drama; a tribute from Seumas MacManus records the multi-faceted feminist endeavours of Ethna Carbery/Anna Johnston. Whether through soulful poetry or satiric verse, novel, short story or literary criticism, the depictions of woman reveal much about their authors and society.

Volume Contents

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    Front Matter
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    Introduction to Volume V By Mary S. Pierse
  • ‘Mother and Son’; ‘Sister Mary of the Love of God’; ‘My Treasure’; ‘June’, Vagrant Verses, London: Elkin Mathews, 1899, pp. 100–102, 136–140, 114–15; 104 (First published by Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1886.) [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Rosa Mulholland
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      Mother and Son
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      Sister Mary of the Love of God
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      My Treasure
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      June
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    155
    ‘George Eliot’, Notes on Men, Women, and Books, London: Ward & Downey, 1891, pp. 171–9 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland] By Lady Wilde
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    156
    ‘Jeanne Bras’, Ballads & Poems, London: J. Bowden, 1899, pp. 18–23 [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Dora Sigerson
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    157
    ‘The Irish Mother’s Lament’, A Treasury of Irish Poetry, ed. Stopford A. Brooke and T. W. Rolleston, London: Macmillan, 1900, pp. 523–6 [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Cecil Frances Alexander
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    158
    ‘The Fairy Fiddler’, A Treasury of Irish Poetry, ed. Stopford A. Brooke and T. W. Rolleston, London: Macmillan, 1900, pp. 473–4 [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Nora Hopper Chesson
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    159
    ‘A Vagrant Heart’, The Fairy Changeling and Other Poems, London and New York: John Lane, 1898 [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Dora Sigerson
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    160
    ‘Mo Bhuachaill Cael-Dubh (My Black Slender Boy)’, The Four Winds of Eirinn, Dublin: M. H. Gill, 1902 [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Ethna Carbery
  • Extracts from ‘A Memoir of Ethna Carbery’, The Four Winds of Eirinn, Dublin: M. H. Gill, 1902, pp. x–xvi, xx–xxi [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Seumas MacManus
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      II
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      III
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      V
  • ‘The Exile’, The Untilled Field, London: William Heinemann, 1903, pp. 1–31 [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By George Moore
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      I
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      II
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      III
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      IV
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      V
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      VI
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    163
    Dervorgilla, New York: Putnam, 1912, pp. 95–111 (First published 1907.) [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Lady Augusta Gregory
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    164
    ‘OH, NO! WE NEVER MENTION IT!’, The Abbey Row: Not Edited by William Butler Yeats, Dublin: Maunsel, 1907, pp. 10–11 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland] By Susan Mitchell
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    165
    ‘The Greenlands’, The Living Chalice and Other Poems, Dublin, Maunsel & Co., 1908, pp. 31–3 [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Susan Mitchell
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    166
    Review of ‘The Living Chalice and Other Poems’ Bean na hÉireann, February 1909 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland]
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    167
    ‘The Red-Haired Man’s Wife’, Bean na hÉireann, February 1909, p. 9 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland] By James Stephens
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    168
    ‘Offering’, Songs of Myself, Dublin: Hodges Figgis, 1910, p. 49 [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By Thomas MacDonagh
  • Max, New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1910 Edited by Katherine Cecil Thurston
    By Katherine Cecil Thurston
    • Part I
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        Chapter I
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        Chapter II
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        Chapter III
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        Chapter IV
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        Chapter V
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        Chapter VI
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        Chapter VII
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        Chapter VIII
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        Chapter IX
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        Chapter X
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        Chapter XI
    • Part II
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        Chapter XII
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        Chapter XIII
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        Chapter XIV
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        Chapter XV
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        Chapter XVI
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        Chapter XVII
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        Chapter XVIII
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        Chapter XIX
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        Chapter XX
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        Chapter XXI
    • Part III
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        Chapter XXII
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        Chapter XXIII
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        Chapter III
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        Chapter XXV
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        Chapter XXVI
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        Chapter XXVII
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        Chapter XXVIII
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        Chapter XXIX
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        Chapter XXX
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        Chapter XXXI
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        Chapter XXXII
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        Chapter XXXIII
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        Chapter XXXIV
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        Chapter XXXV
    • Part IV
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        Chapter XXXVI
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        Chapter XXXVII
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        Chapter XXXVIII
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        Chapter XXXIX
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        Chapter XL
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        Chapter XLI
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    170
    ‘The Mother’, New Poems, London: Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd, 1911, pp. 38–9 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland] By Katharine Tynan
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    171
    ‘Dora Sigerson: A Tribute and Some Memories’, The Sad Years, London: Constable & Co., 1918, pp. vii–xi By Katharine Tynan
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    172
    Review of The Years of the Shadow, by Katharine Tynan, The Irish Citizen, November 1919, p. 42 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland] By Rose Jacob
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    173
    ‘Woman This, and Woman That’, The Irish Citizen, June 1, 1912, p. 10 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland] By L. H.
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    174
    Review of Ecce Mater, The Irish Citizen, March 27, 1915, p. 346 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland] By M.E.
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    175
    ‘Righteous Anger’, Reincarnations, London: Macmillan, 1918, pp. 37–8 [By kind permission of Cork City Libraries] By James Stephens
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    176
    ‘My Experiences in Prison’, The Irish Citizen, June–July 1919, pp. 11–12 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland] By Maud Gonne
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    177
    ‘Sex-Bias in Language’, The Irish Citizen, September 1919 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. By kind permission of the copyright holders] By Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington
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    178
    Advertisement for The Feminine in Fiction, The Irish Citizen, November 1919, p. 53 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland]
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    179
    Review of The Feminine in Fiction, The Irish Citizen, January 1919, p. 643 [Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland] By K.
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    Extracts from The Feminine in Fiction, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1918, pp. 8, 10–14, 78–84, 123–8 [By kind permission of the British Library] By L.A.M. Priestley McCracken
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      Introduction
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      Esther Waters By George Moore
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      The Christian By Hall Caine
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    Back Matter