Svět knihy 2004

Ireland and Irish Literature
Ireland, with a total population of just under 5 million people, has a proud literary tradition and is internationally renowned for its contemporary literature. Its reputation as a country of writers and scholars is well-earned. Ireland has produced four Nobel prize-winners - George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney – in addition to the most acclaimed and controversial of twentieth century writers, James Joyce, whose novel Ulysses is being celebrated in 2004, the centenary year of its setting.

Much has been written regarding the context in which literature from Ireland has flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries. Indeed, it is sometimes suggested that the well-spring of many Irish writers’ great control of English is the Irish language, which hovers in the Irish psyche and helps mould the linguistic imagination.

To this day, the influence of Ireland’s strong oral tradition of storytelling is very much in evidence in a lot of its literary output and in particular in the monologues which so often characterise its dramatic writing.

The influence of Hiberno-English, the English influenced by contact with the Irish-language, is particularly evident in much of the poetry written in the middle of the twentieth century, in the poetry of John Montague and Michael Hartnett, for example. Hiberno-English has also often left its mark on the contemporary Irish play-writing of Brian Friel, Tom Murphy, Marina Carr, Eugene O’Brien and Martin McDonagh.

Many of the themes in these plays are firmly rooted in rural or small town contexts, with a wide range of references to dark, culturally oppressive environments, claustrophobic family structures and bleak impoverished landscapes which create great tension and leave few options other than flight, murder or other unspeakable acts of treachery!!

A snapshot of contemporary Irish writing shows an even more complicated and variegated picture. The increased urbanisation of Irish society means that some Irish writers, having little or no experience of rural life, write of a different Ireland, an Ireland of housing estates and drug abuse, of social deprivation and unemployment. The works of Roddy Doyle are a prime example of this type of work, as is some of the writing by playwright and theatre director, Paul Mercier.

A relatively recent phenomenon in Irish writing has seen Irish writers taking international subjects for their writing while continuing to write in an identifiably Irish voice. Examples of this work would include certain novels by Colm Toibín, John Banville, Anne Enright, Anne Haverty and Colum McCann.

Irish writers are frequent contenders for major international prizes such as the Man Booker Prize (John McGahern, Roddy Doyle), the T.S. Eliot Award (Ciarán Carson, Paul Muldoon) and the Orange Prize (Maggie O’Farrell, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne). Ireland can also boast of the most valuable literature prize in the world, The Impac Dublin Literary Award, an international literary award for new works of high literary merit in the English language, which is worth €100,000 to the annual winner.

Popular romantic fiction has long been part of the contemporary Irish literary scene, with titles by Maeve Binchy selling hundreds of thousands of copies world-wide, both in English and in translation. Other well-known Irish writers of this genre include Marian Keyes, Cathy Kelly and Sheila O’Flanagan.

Writing in the Irish Language
The Irish language, spoken by a minority in Ireland, continues to produce writers whose works are of great literary merit. In recent years, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Cathal Ó Searcaigh, for example, have reached international audiences through the translation of their works in Japanese and Romanian, amongst other languages.

In the early 1970s, a strong Irish language poetry movement developed in University College Cork. Many of the poets, including Liam Ó Muirthile, Gabriel Rosenstock, Louis de Paor and Michael Davitt, found early expression of their talent in the college’s Innti journal, and are still writers of considerable note today.

Fiction writing in the Irish language is limited, with few authors choosing to work in this genre. Irish language publishing is frequently beset by problems of staffing, scale and distribution. However, the advent of a national Irish language-medium television channel, TG4, has provided an outlet for script-writing, with many writers finding a new income-stream through this medium.

Writing from Northern Ireland
Many of Ireland’s best known writers - Seamus Heaney, Seamus Deane, Michael Longley, Paul Muldoon, Derek Mahon and John Montague - either live or grew up in Northern Ireland. The troubled history of the North has almost inevitably informed the writing of the artists who live there.

Some writers have chosen to move away from Northern Ireland, and to grapple with themes of a more universal appeal. Certain playwrights such as Stuart Parker, and more recently, Gary Mitchell, have however attempted to portray the environmental constraints of living with the constant threat of conflict. Northern Ireland has also produced a talented crop of fiction writers such as Robert McLiam Wilson, Jennifer Johnston, Glenn Patterson, Deirdre Madden and Maggie O’Farrell.

The Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry has just been established at the School of English at Queen’s University in Belfast, and an MA in Creative Writing is now offered by the Centre. Several universities on the island (North and South) run a three-year Ireland Chair of Poetry to mark Seamus Heaney’s Nobel Laureate. The poet appointed to the chair spends a year in each of three universities and gives students a small number of lectures and tutorials. Initiatives such as these provide good opportunities for poets and are indicative of a wider appreciation of literature’s role in society.

Publishing in Ireland
Indigenous English-language publishing, although dwarfed by the geographic proximity of Britain, excels in a number of key sectors such as history and poetry. The total revenue of general publishers in Ireland in 2002 was €23.5 million and virtually all literary publishing in Ireland depends to some extent on state support.

Poetry publishing in Ireland is of a very high standard, both in terms of the Irish poets published and in terms of international poets who are published in translation. Inger Christiansen and Elisabeth Borchers, for example, are published in English by Dedalus Press. The Gallery Press, which has been in existence for over 30 years, publishes many of Ireland’s leading poets and playwrights including Derek Mahon, Richard Murphy and Brian Friel and also gives voice to newer, emerging talents such as Vona Groarke and Justin Quinn. No fewer than three Gallery-published poets were short-listed for the T.S. Eliot Award in 2003.

History and archaeology have a strong local readership. The Lilliput Press has published titles ranging from Ireland and the Atlantic Heritage by Estyn Evans to biographies and biographical essays such as Lady Gregory’s Toothbrush by Colm Toibín. Mercier Press, one of Ireland’s oldest publishing houses, publishes a wide range of works on religion, archaeology and folklore. New Island Books also carries a list which ranges from new playscripts such as Donal O’Kelly’s Catalpa, to Nuala O’Faoláin’s Are You Somebody?, to Patrick Galvin’s Song for a Raggy Boy, which was recently adapted for film.

The largest Irish-language publisher in Ireland is An Gúm, which is part of Foras na Gaeilge, a state body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the whole island of Ireland. An Gúm publishes dictionaries and glossaries, textbooks for all educational sectors, and books for children and teenagers.

The main literary house in Northern Ireland is The Blackstaff Press. The Abbey Press is the main poetry publisher. However, market forces and the scale of the local economy mean that many writers seek publishers either in Britain or in the Republic.

Children’s Publishing
Children’s publishing experienced a period of great growth from the 1970s and several publishing houses, with the assistance of the Arts Council, established strong children’s lists. Increased competition due to the globalisation of the children’s Anglophone market has had a considerable impact on a number of key children’s publishers. Today, the market is dominated by The O’Brien Press which publishes Eoin Colfer, Siobhán Parkinson, Marita Conlon-McKenna, Gerard Whelan and Aubrey Flegg. It also actively and successfully sells foreign language rights in many territories.

Literary Journals
A small number of literary journals are produced in Ireland, most notably The Dublin Review, the Poetry Ireland Review and Metre. All three journals receive considerable state support, and address an international as well as a local readership.

International Promotion of Irish Literature
In the past ten years, several different strategies have been adopted to promote Irish literature abroad, including a very special show-case of Irish literature, Ireland and its Diaspora, at the Frankfurt Bookfair in 1996. The establishment of Ireland Literature Exchange (www.irelandliterature.com) in 1994 has played a key role in the promotion of Irish literature abroad. ILE’s principal activity is the provision of translation grants to international publishers who publish contemporary Irish literature (i.e. works of Irish interest published originally in the Irish or English languages). Since its establishment, ILE has assisted with the publication of over 700 titles in almost 40 different languages.

Czech publishers have been actively engaged with ILE for some years. Companies such as Mladá Fronta, Barrister and Principal, Volvox Globator, Albatros and Argo spol have translated many works of contemporary Irish writing in Czech, including titles by Seamus Heaney, Samuel Beckett, John McGahern, William Trevor and John Banville.

Artist Exemption
Writers who are normally resident in Ireland can derive benefit from legislation which exempts income earned from creative writing from tax. The exemption is in place since 1969 and is seen as a means by which the State marks the contribution of creative artists to the cultural wealth of the State.

Aosdána
Aosdána is an academy of Irish artists (writers, composers and visual artists). Membership of Aosdána, which is by peer nomination and election, is limited to 200 living artists who have produced a distinguished body of work. Members must have been born in Ireland or have been resident there for five years. Each member is entitled to an annual tax-free stipend to facilitate their creative output.

Bursaries for Writers
The Arts Council and Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge (The Irish Language Books Board) offer tax-exempt grants to writers for new work. Beneficiaries are selected through a system of peer assessment.

Literature Organisations
A number of literature organisations operate in Ireland to promote a greater understanding of various literary genres. Poetry Ireland (www.poetryireland.ie) is the national poetry organisation which promotes poetry in Ireland. It also runs an extensive writers in schools education programme. Children’s Books Ireland (www.childrensbooksireland.com) as its name suggests, promotes books and reading for and amongst children. The Irish Writers’ Centre (www.writerscentre.ie) promotes Irish writing through workshops and readings.

Conclusion
Contemporary Irish literature is characterised by a relatively strong infrastructure for writers and a much weaker one for literary publishing. The internationalisation of literary publishing presents a threat to all Irish literature which is not perceived to be of international appeal. Ironically, it is precisely the culturally specific elements in contemporary Irish literature which tend to attract international audiences to its literature. Continued success for Irish writing is therefore far from guaranteed but its success to date and its strong tradition augur well for the future.