Author : Helena Kelleher Kahn
Publisher : E & L Press
ISBN 13 : 9780944318188
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (181 download)
Book Synopsis Late Nineteenth-century Ireland's Political and Religious Controversies in the Fiction of May Laffan Hartley by : Helena Kelleher Kahn
Download or read book Late Nineteenth-century Ireland's Political and Religious Controversies in the Fiction of May Laffan Hartley written by Helena Kelleher Kahn and published by E & L Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In her novels and short stories, May Laffan Hartley (1849?1916) depicts the religious and political controversies of late nineteenth-century Ireland. Eire's own Helena Kelleher Kahn reintroduces us to Laffan's vivid, witty fiction, rich in political and social commentary. Laffan did not offer clear-cut approval to one side or the other of the social and religious divide but weighed both and often found them wanting. She adds a missing dimension to the Irish world of Wilde, Shaw, and Joyce. A woman of the age subtly embroiders the acute challenges and divisions of middle-class Ireland. As Kahn says, ?she chose to write about the alcoholic ex-student, the impecunious solicitor, the farmer or merchant turned politician, and their often resentful wives and children. On the whole her world view was pessimistic. Rural Ireland was a beautiful intellectual desert. Dublin was a place to leave, not to live in.' This account of her life and work will be of interest to students of Anglo-Irish literature and history, as well as women's studies. On the ELT Press website we will simultaneously publish an e-book version of Laffan's novel, Hogan MP, available free of charge.