Overview

In the late 1840s, more than one million Irish men and women died of starvation and disease, and a further two million emigrated in one of the worst European sustenance crises of modern times. Yet a general feeling persists that the Irish Famine eluded satisfactory representation. Writing the Famine examines literary texts by writers such as William Carleton. Anthony Trollope, James Clarence Mangan, John Mitchel, and Samuel Ferguson, and reveals how they interact with histories, sermons, economic treatises to construct a narrative of the most important and elusive events in Irish history. In this strikingly original and compelling contribution to Irish culture studies, Christopher Moras explores the concept of the Famine as a moment of absence. He argues the event constitutes an unspeakable moment in attempts to write the past - a point at which the great Victorian metanarratives of historical change collapse. Aligning itself with new historical literary criticism, Writing the Famine examines the attempts of a wide range of nineteenth-century writing to ensure the memorialization of an event which seems to resist representation.

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9780198182795

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brilliant book ... Morash uses some of the techniques of the 'new historicism' with a sensitivity that will impress historians as much as literary critics. ... This book makes a distinguished contribution to the lively debate on Irish literary culture in the 19th century. The Times Higher Education Supplement, 18 July 1997 a narrative of one of the most important and elusive events in Irish history Nineteenth-Century Literature 51:1 (June 1996)

`brilliant book ... Morash uses some of the techniques of the 'new historicism' with a sensitivity that will impress historians as much as literary critics. ... This book makes a distinguished contribution to the lively debate on Irish literary culture in the 19th century.' The Times Higher Education Supplement, 18 July 1997 `a narrative of one of the most important and elusive events in Irish history' Nineteenth-Century Literature 51:1 (June 1996)

Author Information

Amongst his publications are: `On Minor Literature' in The Internationalism of Irish Literature and Drama, ed Robert Welch (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1992); The Hungry Voice: The Poetry of the Irish Famine, ed Morash (Dublin, Irish Academic Press, 1989). He has contributions forthcoming in: Oxford Companion to Irish Literature, ed. Welch; Blackwell's Companion to Irish Culture, ed. McCormack; main entry on Ireland World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre Vol. 1, Europe, ed. Rubin (Routledge); contributions to International Dictionary of Theatre Vol. II Playwrights, ed. Hawkins-Dady (St James's Press, 1994); `Making Memories: The Literature of the Famine' in The Irish World Wide: History, Heritage, Development Vol 6 The Meaning of the Famine, ed. O'Sullivan (Leicester UP).

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