Out of the Earth: Ecocritical Readings of Irish Texts

Within the current climate of both literary and environmental studies "Out of the Earth: Ecocritical Readings of Irish Texts" is an unprecedented integration of Irish Studies and Ecocriticism that is both timely and necessary. The essays offer ecocritical readings of Irish literary and cultural texts of various genres, including fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, drama and the visual image. Long before there was a theoretical movement that gave a name to and vocabulary for literary readings of nature, scholars of Irish literature have understood the importance of the natural world to an Irish cultural sensibility. An emphasis on place not only pervades Irish writing of the twentieth century but also is in fact rooted in ancient traditions of Celtic mythology and place-lore. While critical assessments of Irish place writing are numerous, few of them address such representations of the natural world as politically and culturally informed and scripted texts. Even fewer of them address the ecological implications embedded in these ways of knowing place. This project explores the natural world as a record of and participant in the experiences of a vibrant and changing Ireland.