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9781787079595

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Voices from a hidden Dublin resound throughout Nils Beese's book. His analysis combines a fine alertness to a diversity of texts with a sure command of the wider sociocultural matrices out of which each one sprang. An astonishing, necessary work. (Declan Kiberd, University of Notre Dame) Writing Slums is a vital and fascinating work of literary and cultural criticism which explores new territory in Irish Studies. Nils Beese provides a brilliant and meticulous account of the realities and myths of slum life as it was recorded and imagined in Irish writing, ranging from the work of May Laffan and Fannie Gallaher, pioneers of Irish slum fiction, to the significance of slums in the modernist aesthetics of W. B. Yeats and James Joyce. In this engaging study, Beese teaches us to re-think the history of the Irish revival, and to re-calibrate our understanding of class in Irish culture. (John Brannigan, University College Dublin) This is an engrossing and ground-breaking book, which enhances significantly our knowledge of how Dublin's slums and its poor have been represented in Irish literature. It is methodically researched, with a deep understanding of the postcolonial context combined with a refreshing class analysis of the dynamics of imperialism in urban Ireland. Writing Slums: Dublin, Dirt and Literature suggests the rich possibilities for further research in this area, and is a vital resource for Irish Studies scholars, not least those working on Yeats, Joyce, Stephens, Connolly, modernism, revivalism, the popular slum text, Irish working-class writing, or the history of Dublin city. Theorising the slums as a cultural signifier, Nils Beese adds an assured and original new chapter to our understanding of Dublin, of the processes of colonisation, and of the importance of representation in both. (Michael Pierse, Queen's University Belfast) Beese's genre study of pre-Revivalist Dublin slum fiction shows a <literary battleground> being played out against the birth of Irish modernism. It offers a unique and welcome perspective on the study of urban representations in Irish literature. (Elizabeth Mannion, author of The Urban Plays of the Early Abbey Theatre: Beyond O'Casey) This is a thoughtfully theorised, well-researched contribution to Irish Studies. With real originality it supplies a convincing context for innovative readings of the careers of both Yeats and Joyce. Furthermore, it brilliantly enriches our understanding of the Irish Literary Revival, encompassing as it does, for example, the writings of James Connolly within that movement. (Terence Brown, Trinity College Dublin)

«Voices from a hidden Dublin resound throughout Nils Beese's book. His analysis combines a fine alertness to a diversity of texts with a sure command of the wider sociocultural matrices out of which each one sprang. An astonishing, necessary work.» (Declan Kiberd, University of Notre Dame) «Writing Slums is a vital and fascinating work of literary and cultural criticism which explores new territory in Irish Studies. Nils Beese provides a brilliant and meticulous account of the realities and myths of slum life as it was recorded and imagined in Irish writing, ranging from the work of May Laffan and Fannie Gallaher, pioneers of Irish slum fiction, to the significance of slums in the modernist aesthetics of W. B. Yeats and James Joyce. In this engaging study, Beese teaches us to re-think the history of the Irish revival, and to re-calibrate our understanding of class in Irish culture.» (John Brannigan, University College Dublin) «This is an engrossing and ground-breaking book, which enhances significantly our knowledge of how Dublin’s slums and its poor have been represented in Irish literature. It is methodically researched, with a deep understanding of the postcolonial context combined with a refreshing class analysis of the dynamics of imperialism in urban Ireland. Writing Slums: Dublin, Dirt and Literature suggests the rich possibilities for further research in this area, and is a vital resource for Irish Studies scholars, not least those working on Yeats, Joyce, Stephens, Connolly, modernism, revivalism, the popular slum text, Irish working-class writing, or the history of Dublin city. Theorising the slums as a cultural signifier, Nils Beese adds an assured and original new chapter to our understanding of Dublin, of the processes of colonisation, and of the importance of representation in both.» (Michael Pierse, Queen's University Belfast) «Beese's genre study of pre-Revivalist Dublin slum fiction shows a ‹literary battleground› being played out against the birth of Irish modernism. It offers a unique and welcome perspective on the study of urban representations in Irish literature.» (Elizabeth Mannion, author of The Urban Plays of the Early Abbey Theatre: Beyond O'Casey) «This is a thoughtfully theorised, well-researched contribution to Irish Studies. With real originality it supplies a convincing context for innovative readings of the careers of both Yeats and Joyce. Furthermore, it brilliantly enriches our understanding of the Irish Literary Revival, encompassing as it does, for example, the writings of James Connolly within that movement.» (Terence Brown, Trinity College Dublin)

Author Information

Nils Beese completed his PhD in Irish literature at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He also holds master’s degrees from the University of Rochester, New York, and from Trinity College Dublin.

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