The first monograph on the poetry of Paul Durcan, this book deals thematically with the dominant concerns evident from his first solo collection, O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor, published in 1975, up to, and including, The Days of Surprise, published in 2015. His work is marked by an unnerving emotional honesty and a recurring desire to undermine the pomposity of an Ireland struggling under the weight of inherited inconsistencies. One of the central arguments here is that Durcan has captured, more than any other poet of his generation, the complexities and contradictions inherent in Ireland’s emergence from the early, difficult decades of independence. The complex relationship between the public and private in his poetry is also explored, as well as the poet’s unflinching examination of his deepest personal relationships.
The first monograph on the poetry of Paul Durcan, this book deals thematically with the dominant concerns evident from his first solo collection, O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor, published in 1975, up to, and including, The Days of Surprise, published in 2015. His work is marked by an unnerving emotional honesty and a recurring desire to undermine the pomposity of an Ireland struggling under the weight of inherited inconsistencies. One of the central arguments here is that Durcan has captured, more than any other poet of his generation, the complexities and contradictions inherent in Ireland’s emergence from the early, difficult decades of independence. The complex relationship between the public and private in his poetry is also explored, as well as the poet’s unflinching examination of his deepest personal relationships.
The number of evictions in Balinmore, Ireland is on the rise. Eamonn McDonagh feels that he must resist the English landlord who is responsible for the misery inflicted on the Irish people in his town, so he forms a secret society known as "The Black Thorn." He warns his oppressor that violence will erupt if he continues with the evictions, which he does, starting with the eviction of Eamonn's sister. Watching all the violence that ensues is McDonagh's ten year old son, Joseph, who is caught between the gentle example of his local priest and the violent actions of his father. So begins the story of "The Black Thorn." It is a tale that starts in Ireland in 1846 at the start of the potato blight. It takes Joseph McDonagh through the An Gorta Mor (The Great Hunger) and eventually, by way of one of the many "Coffin Ships," to America and into its vicious Civil War. It ends in the Schuylkill coal region of Pennsylvania in 1867 where Joseph is arrested and put on trial for the murder of a brutal mine boss, --- a murder that he didn't commit.
(Limelight). Now available in paperback, this compilation by longtime New York Times music and arts critic John Rockwell features the creme de la creme of the renowned journalist's arts criticism and commentary over the past 40 years. Taken mostly from the Times , but also including pieces from 17 other sources, such as the Los Angeles Times , The New Republic , the San Francisco Examiner , High Fidelity , Opera , and the Village Voice , these writings present Rockwell's unique vision of the arts scene over the past 40 years, with essays on classical music (including the breadth of contemporary works), rock, dance, art, film, theater, general arts topics, and reports from abroad. Rockwell's analysis includes parallels among the arts, insights from one to another, as he brilliantly communicates his aesthetic experiences to the reader.
THE STORY: The time is 1999, the place an island off the coast of Norway. Stony McBride, a young movie director and adopted son of an aging Hollywood star, is writing a film about Marco Polo, in which, it is hoped, his father will make a comeback.
This book examines the almost entirely neglected realm of public property, identifying and describing a number of key organizing principles around which a nascent jurisprudence of public property may be developed. In property law terms, the public realm is lost to plain view. Despite the vast acreage of public lands, or the extensive tracts of private lands over which public rights subsist, there is little commensurate scholarly discussion of the ideas, theories, practices, and laws of public property. This is no accident. Public property has been marginalized and pushed to the periphery for centuries, a consequence of the dominant discourse of private property, and its enclosing, encroaching tendencies. This book explores the rich diversity of the public estate, of what the public realm means for us, the general public, canvassing what we may ‘own’, where we may ‘belong’, or not, and how we may ‘connect’ through a shared use and enjoyment of public place and space. To better understand public property is to better value its critical public-wealth. Whether overlooked, over-used, or under threat of imminent loss, this book maintains that our loved (and not so loved) public spaces are essential components of our diverse, functioning, and optimistically livable human geographies. As such, they demand legal protection. This important and original book will be of considerable interest to scholars and others with interests in property and land law, socio-legal studies, legal geography and urban studies.
Click here to find out about the 2009 MLA Updates and the 2010 APA Updates. Designed to be clear and simple, How to Write Anything re-imagines how texts work, with support for students wherever they are in their writing process. The Guide, in Parts 1 and 2, lays out focused advice for writing common genres, while the Reference, in Parts 3 through 9, covers the range of writing and research skills that students need as they work across genres and disciplines. Intuitive cross-referencing and a modular chapter organization that’s simple to follow make it easy for students to work back and forth between the chapters and still stay focused on their own writing. Now also available in a version with 50 fresh, additional readings from a wide range of sources, organized by the genres covered in the guide. The result is everything you need to teach composition in a flexible, highly visual guide, reference, and reader. Introducing Author Talk: Watch our video interview with Jay Dolmage.
First Published in 2000. Why do we go to the theater? There's a question! Or put it this way: Why, oh why, do we go to the theater? If we go to a movie and it isn't any good, well it's not the end of the world. We're usually quite content just the same. It passes the time. Though, as Samuel Beckett pointed out, the time would have passed anyway. But if we're disappointed at the theater, everything changes dramatically. We cannot while away the time at the theater. Time becomes precious. This is a collection of writings about the world of the theatre and includes pieces about Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Richardson, Arthur Miller, Michael Bennett, Noel Coward, Barbra Streisand, Ralph Fiennes and more.
Famed playwright's beautiful, poetic 1907 memoir of life in an Irish fishing community. Superb retelling of folklore and anecdotes; vivid portrait of warmth, sincerity, and humor of hardy island residents.
Negotiating a Settlement in Northern Ireland: From Sunningdale to St Andrews uses original material from witness seminars, elite interviews, and archive documents to explore the shape taken by the Irish peace process, and in particular to analyse the manner in which successful stages of this were negotiated. Northern Ireland's Good Friday Agreement of 1998 marked the end a 30-year conflict that had witnessed more than 3,000 deaths, thousands of injuries, catastrophic societal damage, and large-scale economic dislocation. This book traces the roots of the Agreement over the decades, stretching back to the Sunningdale conference of 1973 and extending up to at least the St Andrews Agreement of 2006. It describes the changing relationship between parties to the conflict (nationalist and unionist groups within Northern Ireland, and the Irish and British governments) and identifies three dimensions of significant change: new ways of implementing the concept of sovereignty, growing acceptance of power sharing, and the steady emergence of substantial equality in the socio-economic, cultural, and political domains. As well as placing this in the context of an extensive social science literature, the book innovates by looking at the manner in which those most closely involved understood the process in which they were engaged. The authors reproduce testimonies from witness seminars and interviews involving central actors, including former prime ministers, ministers, senior officials, and political advisors. They conclude that the outcome was shaped by a distinctive interaction between the conscious planning of these elites and changing demographic and political realities that themselves were, in a symbiotic way, consequences of decisions made in earlier years. They also note the extent to which this settlement has come under pressure from new notions of sovereignty implicit in the Brexit process.
FICTION / LITERARY The Soul of the City is a tale of two cities, Belfast and London, in the heady, liberating days of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Young Jim Mitchell moves through a succession of jobs, girlfriends and apartments in the quest for personal fulfillment and his dream of becoming a writer in the face of often dispiriting circumstances. There is the trauma of his affair with Maureen, an older, married woman, and the trap of his career on the unrelenting white-collar production line of the Ministry of Truth, against the background of civil rights protest and the onset of the troubles in Belfast. Escaping to the space and freedom of London, Jim tries to live the dream of the bohemian writer but all too soon there is the pressing need to earn a living in the more mundane occupations on offer in the metropolis. Just when all seems lost, Jim meets and falls in love with the beautiful Anglo- Irish student Bridget and is drawn into an exciting student-hippy milieu of experimentation, idealism and fun. However, such pleasures are by definition transient and the young couple, Jim and Bridget, must strike out on their own, exploring love, intimacy and enlightenment together in their ongoing search for the soul of the city.
THE STORY: In rapid, highly stylized, music-video-like scenes, STUPID KIDS follows four students at Joe McCarthy High School as they make their way from first through eighth period and beyond, struggling with the fears, frustrations, and longings p
The history of Gaelic games in Canada, before the founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland in 1884 and in the years since, proves a determination by Irish immigrants who have arrived in numerous provinces of Canada. Through their dedication the flag of Irish sports has flown strong, and will continue to fly in the years to come. The sporting traditions include the oldest European field game of hurling-a masterful art and the fastest game in the world-in which players use an ash wood stick and a hard ball. Many argue with some conviction, and no small amount of fact to support their case, that Canada's national sport, ice hockey, has its origins in hurling. The word puck is derived from the Irish word poc, which is the action of striking the ball with a hurley. In 1845, the civic fathers of Quebec City banned the playing of hurling in their narrow streets, while in St. John's, Newfoundland, hurling was being played as early as 1788 at the "Barrens" of the city. The ladies' version of hurling, Camogie, has had its presence on occasion in some Canadian communities. The skilful play of Gaelic Football, which has dominated the sporting scene across the country in many Canadian cities, continues to be the greatest strength in modern times. Along with two other Irish sports of handball and rounders, many wonderful memories for the Canadian-Irish community are celebrated in this book that captures an exciting facet of Irish culture.
THE STORY: PART ONE: BULFINCH'S MYTHOLOGY. The play begins on a deserted Nantucket beach in 1875 where the young Joshua Hickman awaits the return of his wife, Lydie, who has been off-island on a nursing assignment. She is furious that he has let he
Ireland today stands at a defining moment. The prosperity of the Celtic Tiger years has given way to the sudden crash, the turbulence of the euro crisis, and the loss of our sovereignty to the faceless technocrats of Europe and the IMF. Our leaders seem impotent and rage, bewilderment and despair have swept through Irish society. Was It For This...? delves into the Irish psyche to answer the questions: What happened to our hopes and dreams? What is at the heart of the sense of betrayal that we feel? In the rush to modernity, did we throw away everything of true value? Have we lost the ideals of nationhood and patriotism set out by those who dreamt of the Irish Republic? John Waters’ remarkable new book sweeps through the pages of our recent history to get to the heart our political, social and existential identity crisis. Ranging across a vast canvas, Was It For This...? argues that the Celtic Tiger was built on a collective delusion, and that the seeds of its destruction were sown many years before it even began, when we exchanged our colonial shackles for a no-less destructive dependency for short-term gain. Ireland’s sovereignty was given up long before the IMF came to town. Along the way, Waters ponders our love/hate relationship with Fianna Fáil; the undercurrents that ran through the 2011 presidential election; why our political leaders and commentators have clung onto the remnants of 1960s revolutionary fervour long after the revolution was won; how our denial of an authoritative father figure has led to a leaderless ‘sibling society’; the emptiness of our ‘youth culture’ and the suppression of real thought and discussion through cynicism and irony; and why we have lost the very language that once enabled us to speak of ‘Ireland’ with pride.
Dealing largely with the many aspects of love (from the sublime to the ridiculous) and with the trials and terrors that actors must face, the plays mingle hilarity and poignance as they explore the problems that romance--and the need for self-expression--can engender. We encounter, for example, an actor struggling through a particularly devastating rehearsal; two teenagers gingerly dissecting a frog--and their sex lives; a bridegroom who finds that he really loves the bridesmaid rather than the bride; a woman (masquerading as a man) who tries to pick up a man (masquerading as a woman) in a bar; a couple chattering through a "splatter film" whose conversation is even wilder, and more intriguing, that the soundtrack of the movie; and assortment of sad/funny monologues about the various perils (and pleasures) of the acting profession; a wildly funny farce involving a man about to undergo a vasectomy, a shockingly inept doctor, an irate (and pregnant) nurse, and the doctor's madly jealous wife.
English soccer hooliganism continues to be a serious problem both at home and abroad. Claims about the success of recent preventative measures taken by the English soccer and police authorities are premature. There are strong indications that soccer hooligans are still active and that they are adapting and changing their strategies and relocating their violent activities. Over recent years, much has been written about soccer hooliganism. In this book, 'Reversal Theory', an insightful and coherent new eclectic approach in psychology, is used to address soccer hooliganism in an innovative way. Few previous accounts can provide the sophisticated understanding of the motivation behind soccer hooligan violence that 'Reversal Theory' achieves. Equipped with a real understanding of the psychology behind violent soccer hooligan activities, those charged with dealing with the problem may adopt more effective counter measures. This book must be of interest to all those who are involved in dealing with or studying soccer hooliganism and other, similar forms of deviant behaviour, such as delinquency and vandalism.
THE STORY: The place is Mansfield, Ohio, the time 1976--during the celebration of the nation's bicentennial. As the play begins, a police radio reports the murders of the wife of a leading citizen and her lover, and a team headed by chief detective
The Routledge History of Literature in English covers the main developments in the history of British and Irish literature from AD 600 to the present day. Accompanying language notes explore the interrelationships between language and literature, emphasising the growth of literary writing, its traditions, conventions and changing characteristics. Extensive quotations from poetry, prose and drama underpin the narrative. With a new chapter on novels, drama and poetry in the 21st century and an extensive companion website, The Routledge History of Literature in English will be an invaluable reference for any student of English literature and language.
One way or another, all playwrights use their work to explore the issues that interest them. The characters in a play may trumpet their creator's political views from the stage, or an unusual structure or set design may result from the playwright's interest in theatrical form. It is also common, particularly in the plays of the 20th and 21st century, to see a playwright delving into psychological issues raised by his own mental struggles or those of people he loves. Luigi Pirandello, tormented by the schizophrenia of his wife and other family members, repeatedly explored the problems caused by different visions of reality. Noel Coward's self-obsessed characters reflect his own narcissism. Alcoholism is a recurrent theme in the works of many playwrights, including Eugene O'Neill, Edward Albee, and Brian Friel. Through their exploration of these issues and more, the great writers of the theater have turned suffering into art. This book looks at the work of 20 playwrights to see how their examination of the disturbed mind has influenced the modern theater.
THE STORY: As the Long Island Press comments: Playwright Lewis John Carlino has drawn a gripping and completely fascinating portrait of a man and woman, trapped in an unreal and yet hauntingly real world, both at the same time. They are actors, ca
THE STORY: The first act finds us on the shore of Scroon Lake in New Hampshire in August 1940. Agnes and Andrew, a soap salesman, arrive at Agnes' home which she shares with her sister, Flo. Flo would like nothing better than to have the home all f
This title was first published in 2002: As rural Ireland undergoes deep-reaching changes, this book critically assesses what the author terms the "renegotiation of rural development" in Ireland through the repackaging, reproduction and representation of suggestions, ideas and alternatives for rural renewal. Deconstructing the process and practice of rural development in Ireland, the author explores the new approaches to development and the so-called desire for creating integrative policy and planning approaches. The main conduits for this investigation are those of partnership and community groups and their involvement in rural development issues. Further, through investigation of the relevant concepts and theories of rural change, the volume delves into the discourses of rurality and development and utilizes the diversity of approaches and understanding of, this increasingly complex issue.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.