Recollecting Hunger: An Anthology ~ Cultural Memories of the Great Famine in Irish and British Fiction, 1847-1920

Description

Recollecting Hunger brings together selections from Irish Famine novels, as well as stories from the Famine until Independence.

This anthology contains not only well-known material by authors such as Anthony Trollope, William Carleton, and Canon Patrick Sheehan, but also includes obscure texts by writers such as Margaret Percival, Susanna Meredith, Canon William Francis Barry, and Louis J. Walsh.

Fully annotated and placed in their historical context, these writings make visible the ways in which literary texts remember the Famine. Many of these texts – some known, more unknown – are not only interesting from a scholarly point of view, but are in fact engrossing and well-written, and will also appeal to general readers with an interest in the hidden treasures of Irish literary history.

As the first anthology of Famine literature, Recollecting Hunger will receive popular and critical attention, and is an excellent text for teaching students at all levels.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Section 1: The Spectre of Starvation
Mrs. Hoare, ‘The Black Potatoes’ (1851).
Susanna Meredith, ‘Ellen Harrington’ (1865).
Canon Patrick Sheehan, Glenanaar (1905).
Mildred Darby, The Hunger (1910).
‘Slieve Foy’, ‘Attie and his Father’ (1912).

Section 2: Golden Hills and Blackened Fields
William Carleton, The Black Prophet (1847).
Thomas O’Neill Russell, The Struggles of Dick Massey (1860).
Kathleen O’Meara, The Battle of Connemara (1878).
Emily Lawless. ‘Famine Road and Memories’ (1898).

Section 3: Priests and Proselytisers
Margaret Percival, The Irish Dove (1849).
‘An Irishman’, Poor Paddy’s Cabin (1854).
Richard Baptist O’Brien, Ailey Moore (1856).
Emily Bowles, Irish Diamonds (1864).
Mason T. Jones, Old Trinity, Vol. II (1867).

Section 4: Landlords and Tenants
William Carleton, The Squanders of Castle Squander (1852).
Charles Lever, The Martins of Cro Martin (1872).
Anthony Trollope, Castle Richmond (1860).
David Power Conyngham, Frank O’Donnell (1861).
Lalla McDowell, The Earl of Effingham (1877).
Hester Sigerson, A Ruined Race (1889).
William Francis Barry, The Wizard’s Knot (1901).

Section 5: Young Ireland and Colonial Rebellion
W.G. Wills, The Love that Kills (1867).
Annie Keary, Castle Daly (1875).
W.C. Upton, Uncle Pat’s Cabin (1882).
Emily Lawless, Hurrish (1886).
Mrs E.M. Field, Denis: A Study in Black and White (1896).
Justin McCarthy, Mononia: A Love Story of ‘Forty-Eight’ (1901).
Louis Walsh, The Next Time (1919).

Section 6: Maidens, Mothers and Old Crones
Julia and Edmund O’Ryan, In re Garland (1870).
‘Ireland’, Forlorn but not Forsaken (1871)
Margaret Brew, The Chronicles of Castle Cloyne, Vol. II (1885).
Rosa Mulholland, ‘The Hungry Death’ (1891).

About the Author

Marguérite Corporaal, Christopher Cusack and Lindsay Janssen are all based at Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen, The Netherlands where Corporaal is Assistant Professor of British literature.