Some works in section L: Genres are useful for research in Anglo-Irish literature.
Some works in section L: Genres/Fiction are useful to research in Anglo-Irish fiction.
Cahalan, James M. The Irish Novel: A Critical History. Boston: Twayne, 1988. 365 pp. Twayne’s Critical Hist. of the Novel. PR8797.C34 823′.009′89162.
A history of Irish novels, written in Irish or English and set in Ireland, from the eighteenth century to the late 1980s. The chapters, organized chronologically, examine a variety of representative novelists and stress matters of language, genre, and history. Indexed by persons and some subjects. The first single-volume history of the Irish novel, Cahalan is especially valuable for its suggestions for further research (which are designed to redress the neglect of Irish novelists other than Joyce). Review: Marilyn Thorne, Studies in the Novel 21.4 (1989): 446–48.
Oxford History of the Novel in English, vol. 4 (L1057).
Brown, Stephen J., S. J. Ireland in Fiction: A Guide to Irish Novels, Tales, Romances, and Folklore. New ed. Dublin: Maunsel, 1919. 362 pp. Brown and Desmond Clarke. Vol. 2. Cork: Royal Carberry, 1985. 290 pp. Z2039.F4 B8 016.823.
An annotated author list of approximately 3,400 separately published fictional works, through 1960, that treat Ireland or the Irish. Brown includes works by Anglo-Irish as well as foreign writers, but excludes fiction written in Irish. Entries provide title, pagination, publication information (usually for the most recent edition), and a synopsis (including occasional comments on historical accuracy or representation of dialects and quotations from reviews). Most Irish authors receive a brief biographical headnote. Three appendixes in vol. 1 are worthy of note: appendix B is a list of series; appendix C classifies works by type or subject matter (historical fiction by date of event depicted, Gaelic epic and romantic literature, legends and folktales, fairy tales for children, Catholic clerical life, and humorous books); appendix D lists Irish periodicals publishing fiction. Additions are printed in 1: 314–16. Indexed by titles and subjects in vol. 1, by titles in vol. 2. Although the synopses are not always objective (especially for anti-Irish, anti-Catholic, or “prurient” works) and coverage is incomplete, Brown provides access to a wealth of examples of the treatment of Ireland and the Irish in fiction. Unfortunately, vol. 2 is not widely held. Snell, The Bibliography of Regional Fiction in Britain and Ireland, 1800–2000 (M2650), is an essential supplement.
Diane Tolomeo, “Modern Fiction,” pp. 268–98 in Finneran, Recent Research on Anglo-Irish Writers (N2950), surveys scholarship and criticism.
Some works in section L: Genres/Drama and Theater are useful to research in Anglo-Irish drama and theater.
Hogan, Robert, et al. The Modern Irish Drama: A Documentary History. 6 vols. Dublin: Dolmen; Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1975–84. Irish Theatre Ser. 6–8, 10, 12. PR8789.H62 [PN2602.D82] 792′.09415.
Vol. 1: The Irish Literary Theatre, 1899–1901. By Robert Hogan and James Kilroy. 1975. 164 pp.
Vol. 2: Laying the Foundations, 1902–1904. By Hogan and Kilroy. 1976. 164 pp.
Vol. 3: The Abbey Theatre: The Years of Synge, 1905–1909. By Hogan and Kilroy. 1978. 385 pp.
Vol. 4: The Rise of the Realists, 1910–1915. By Hogan, Richard Burnham, and Daniel P. Poteet. 1979. 532 pp.
Vol. 5: The Art of the Amateur, 1916–1920. By Hogan and Burnham. 1984. 368 pp.
Vol. 6: The Years of O’Casey, 1921–1926: A Documentary History. By Hogan and Burnham. Newark: U of Delaware P; Gerrards Cross: Smythe, 1992. 437 pp. PR8789.H66 792′.0415′09042.
A year-by-year account of the drama and theater, with each volume attempting “to recreate the flavour of the period” through extensive quotations from contemporary documents, accounts or reviews of performances, letters, memoirs, and the like. Vols. 4–6, however, do offer considerable critical commentary. Each volume includes a chronological list of significant Anglo-Irish plays and the most important Irish-language ones. Organized by year of first production (or date of publication for unperformed plays), each entry records the first edition, original cast, and date and theater of the first production. Each volume is indexed by persons, titles, and a few subjects. A well-integrated re-creation of the modern Irish theatrical and dramatic milieu.
Maxwell, D. E. S. A Critical History of Modern Irish Drama, 1891–1980. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1984. 250 pp. PR8789.M39 822′.91′099415.
A critical history of Anglo-Irish drama since the beginning of the Irish Literary Theatre. Organized chronologically, the 10 chapters chronicle periods and major dramatists. Concludes with a brief chronology and selected bibliography. Indexed by persons and subjects. The fullest critical history of the Irish drama, Maxwell supersedes earlier histories. Review: Ronald Ayling, Essays in Theatre 5.2 (1987): 139–44.
Greene, Theatre in Dublin, 1745–1820: A History (N3037a).
Greene, John C., and Gladys L. H. Clark. The Dublin Stage, 1720–1745: A Calendar of Plays, Entertainments, and Afterpieces. Bethlehem: Lehigh UP; London: Assoc. UP, 1993. 473 pp. PN2602.D8 G7 792′.09418′3509033. (Addenda and corrigenda appear in vol. 6 of 1745–1820.)
Greene, John C. Theatre in Dublin, 1745–1820: A Calendar of Performances. 6 vols. Bethlehem: Lehigh UP, 2011. PN2602.D8. (Searchable indexes are available at http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/lupress/dublintheatre.)
A calendar of theatrical performances in Dublin. Modeled on London Stage, 1660–1800 (M2370), entries provide, where available, venue, date of performance, cast, production personnel, afterpiece(s) and other entertainment, details of benefit or command performances, and notes on box-office receipts and other details. Prefaced by an overview of such theatrical topics as the playhouses, the season, costume, music, and the repertory. Four indexes in 1720–1745: stage personnel; playwrights and titles; main- and afterpieces; topics and persons not included in the preceding indexes; general index of persons, plays, locations, and subjects in 1745–1820 along with searchable indexes (see above) of actors, plays, playwrights, choral works, concerts, venues, seasons, managers, production personnel, benefits, dancers, singers, composers, music, musicians, fireworks, and illuminations. An essential guide to the history of the early Irish theater.
The massive data in 1745–1820 is synthesized in Greene, Theatre in Dublin, 1745–1820: A History, 2 vols. (Bethlehem: Lehigh UP, 2011).
Despite the interest in Irish drama, there is no reasonably thorough bibliography of scholarship and criticism. The following do little more than provide a starting point for research.
Finneran, Anglo-Irish Literature and Recent Research on Anglo-Irish Writers (N2950) have chapters on the modern drama by Robert Hogan, Bonnie K. Scott, and Gordon Henderson (pp. 518–61) and Hogan (pp. 255–67), respectively.
King, Kimball. Ten Modern Irish Playwrights: A Comprehensive Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1979. 111 pp. Garland Reference Lib. of the Humanities 153. Z2039.D7 K56 [PR8789] 016.822′9′1408.
A partially annotated bibliography of primary and secondary works through 1977 for Behan, Boyd, Douglas, Friel, Keane, Kilroy, Leonard, McKenna, Murphy, and O’Brien. The list of primary works for each author includes all genres (as well as interviews); secondary works appear under one of three headings: criticism, dissertations (unannotated), and reviews (spottily annotated). Some of the descriptive annotations are misleading, and there are numerous other errors. Indexed by scholars. The exclusion of most reviews and several articles from Irish periodicals and newspapers along with other significant omissions render this work much less than the comprehensive bibliography claimed by the subtitle. As reviewers point out, a careful revision is needed if Ten Modern Irish Playwrights is to offer more than minimal guidance for research on the 10 playwrights. Reviews: Charles A. Carpenter, Modern Drama 24.1 (1981): 116–19; Richard J. Finneran, Analytical and Enumerative Bibliography 3.4 (1979): 305–19 (with a lengthy list of additions and corrections).
Mikhail, E. H. An Annotated Bibliography of Modern Anglo-Irish Drama. Troy: Whitston, 1981. 300 pp. Z2039.D7 M528 [PR8789] 016.822′91′099415.
A bibliography limited to general studies (from 1899 through 1977), organized in five divisions: bibliographies (a hodgepodge including several works of minimal importance to the subject), reference works, books, periodical articles, and dissertations. Concludes with an incomplete list of library collections. Few of the annotations are adequately descriptive. Two indexes: persons (including authors as subjects); subjects. Plagued by inadequate indexing and annotations, numerous errors and significant omissions, the inclusion of much that is trivial, and poor organization, Bibliography of Modern Anglo-Irish Drama is only marginally useful for identifying discussions of playwrights and a few subjects buried in general studies. This work supersedes Mikhail, A Bibliography of Modern Irish Drama, 1899–1970 (Seattle: U of Washington P, 1972; 51 pp.) and Dissertations on Anglo-Irish Drama: A Bibliography of Studies, 1870–1970 (Totowa: Rowman, 1973; 73 pp.).
Complemented—somewhat—by Mikhail, A Research Guide to Modern Irish Dramatists (Troy: Whitston, 1979; 104 pp.), a bibliography of bibliographies of primary and secondary works. The annotations describe nothing more than the kind of bibliography, and nearly 70% of the entries refer to seven general selective bibliographies (e.g., New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature [M1385]; Samples, Drama Scholars’ Index [L1150a]; and Coleman and Tyler, Drama Criticism [M2875a]).
Some works in section L: Genres/Poetry are useful to research in Anglo-Irish poetry.
Mary M. FitzGerald, “Modern Poetry” pp. 299–334 in Finneran, Recent Research on Anglo-Irish Writers (N2950), surveys scholarship and criticism.