WRITINGS ON LITERATURE AND ART

George William Russell, or AE as he was more familiarly known, was mentor and friend to three generations of Irish writers. To visit or to be sought out by AE was to be assured of a place in Irish literary history. The young James Joyce knocked on his door at midnight; Lady Gregory looked forward to his visits to Coole; Patrick Kavanagh walked from Inniskeen to Dublin to meet him; Yeats regarded him as his ‘oldest friend’; Liam O’Flaherty sought his patronage; Frank O’Connor asked his advice.

As if to guarantee Russell would not be forgotten, George Moore concluded his engaging, gossipy account of the literary movement, Hail and Farewell (1911-14), with a benediction for ‘AE and the rest’. Whether aspiring, accomplished, real or imaginary, Irish writers inevitably found themselves indebted to his practical help and inspired by his spiritual and critical insights. Even Stephen Dedalus admits to himself AEIOU.

This scrupulously researched volume brings together for the first time all of Russell’s writings on poetry, prose, drama and painting—writings central to understanding the role of literature, theatre and art in Ireland’s quest for self-realisation. Included are reviews, prefaces, introductions and articles; letters to the press on censorship and the Irish Academy of Letters; and The Honourable Enid Majoribanks, a hitherto unpublished play. Extensive notes drawing from published and unpublished sources situate each item in terms of text, intertext and context.

- - - - -

Peter Kuch is the inaugural Eamon Cleary Professor of Irish Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. The Director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at Otago, he is also an Honorary Professor at the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies at the University of New South Wales. He holds an Honours degree from the University of Wales and an M.Litt and D.Phil from Oxford. He has held posts at the Universities of Newcastle and New South Wales, Australia; L’Université de Caen, France; and been a Visiting Fellow at the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University, and the Anthony Mason European Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin. The author of Yeats and AE: ‘the antagonism that unites dear friends’ (Colin Smythe, 1988), he is currently researching a cultural history of the performance of Irish theatre in colonial Australasia.

CONTENTS

Preface xi
Acknowledgements xix
Introduction

1.            “The Poetry of William B. Yeats”
2.            “A New Irish Poetess”: review of Eva Gore-Booth, Poems
3.            “Literary Ideals in Ireland”
4.            “Nationality and Cosmopolitanism in Literature”
5.            Review of Eleanor Hull, The Cuchullin Saga in Irish Literature
6.            Review of Edward Martyn, The Heather Field and Maeve
7.            “Politics and Character”
8.            “Fiona Macleod’s New Book”: review of The Dominion of Dreams
9.            Review of Fiona Mcleod, The Divine Adventure
10.          “A Note on William Larminie” in Stopford Brooke and
              T.W. Rolleston, eds., A Treasury of Irish Poetry
11.          “The Dramatic Treatment of Heroic Literature”
12.          “The Character of Heroic Literature”:
               review of Lady Gregory, Cuchullin of Muirthemne
13.          “The Poetry of William Butler Yeats”
14.          “A Book about the Earth Life”: review of Ethel Longworth Dames,
               Myths
15.          “A Note on Standish O’Grady” in Justin McCarthy, ed., Irish
               Literature
16.          “Preface” to New Songs
17.          “A Note on Seamus O’Sullivan”
18.          Review of T.W. Rolleston, The High Deeds of Finn
19.          “The Poetry of James Stephens”
20.          “The Boyhood of a Poet”
21.          “A Tribute to Standish O’Grady”
22.          “On Quality of Sound”
23.          Foreword to Shan F. Bullock, Mors et Vita
24.          Foreword to Liam O’Flaherty, The Black Soul
25.          Foreword to F.R. Higgins, Island Blood
26.          Foreword to Hugh Alexander Law, Anglo-Irish Literature
27.          “Address to the Thirtieth Annual Dinner of the
               American-Irish Historical Society”
28.          “The Censorship in Ireland”
29.          Introduction to Oliver St. John Gogarty, Wild Apples
30.          Foreword to Katharine Tynan, Collected Poems
31.          Review of Humbert Wolfe, Snow
32.          Introductory Essay to Hugh MacDiarmuid
              First Hymn to Lenin and Other Poems
33.          “On the Character in Irish Literature” in Frank O’Connor
               The Wild Bird’s Nest: Poems Translated from the Irish
34.          “The New Irish Academy – AE replies to Father Gannon”
35.          “The Irish Academy of Letters: Letter from AE”
36.          “The New Irish Academy: Letter from AE”
37.          “The New Irish Academy: Letter from AE”
38.          “Oliver St. John Gogarty: An Appreciation”
39.          Foreword to Oliver St. John Gogarty, Selected Poems
40.          Introduction to Seamus O’Sullivan, Twenty-five Lyrics
41.          Introduction to Irene Haugh, The Valley of Bells and Other Poems
42.          “Memories of A.R. Orage”
43.          “An Appreciation” of Ruth Pitter, A Mad Lady’s Garland
44.          Foreword to Joseph O’Neill, Land Under England
45.          “The Sunset of Fantasy”
46.          Deirdre: A Legend in Three Acts
47.          The Honourable Enid Majoribanks: a Comedy
48..          “Art in Ireland”
49.          “An Irish Sculptor”
50.          “The Spiritual Influence of Art”
51.          “Two Irish Artists”
52.          “An Artist of Gaelic Ireland”
53.          “Art and Literature”
54.          “Art and Barbarism”
55.          “The Lane Bequest”
56.          “An Appreciation” of J.B. Yeats, Essays: Irish and American
57.          “Hugh Lane’s Pictures”
58.          “Some Irish Artists”

Appendices:

Preface to Some Irish Essays
Prefaces to Imaginations and Reveries
“Nationality or Cosmopolitanism – 1925 text”
The Countess of the Wheel
Britannia Rule-the-Wave: A Comedy
“AE’s Oration: George Moore”
“An Artist of Gaelic Ireland – 1908 text”
Abbreviations used in Glossary of Mythological
References and Notes and Commentary
Glossary of Mythological References
Guide to Notes and Commentary
Notes and Commentary – Literary Writings
Notes and Commentary – Writings on Art
Notes and Commentary – Appendices
Bibliography
Index

978-0-901072-45-0 xxii, 474pp 2011

£45.00