Favorite Irish Literature

Now that I've actually been to Ireland, it doesn't surprise me a bit that this country fathered so many excellent novelists, playwrights and poets. It's something in the air there, I reckon :nod: :D.

So far, my favourite Irish writer is Bernie Shaw, but I also enjoyed Dracula (who didn't ;) ) and The Informer by Liam O'Flaherty.
Furthermore, I bought myself a collection of modern Irish poems in Dublin and I'm looking forward to reading through that one (need to get started on poetry, eh, Virgil ? ;) ).

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Originally Posted by UltimaHybrid

i read Finnegans Wake by James Joyce and my mom couldn't read it but i could because it was easy too see the combined words and junctions and so and so forth

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That is quality my friend. That book is excluded from some university courses on Joyce it's seen as so difficult. I've managed the first forty pages now, and i'm actually blushing with pride. So fair play to you.

Joyce is my favourite Irish author. I love Dubliners I love Ulysses. That is a monster of a book. I've read it twice and I have to say, for me, it is broader in ambition and more successfully what it is (i apologise for the clumsiness of this statement - i can't think how else to put it) than anything else i've ever read.

The hardback is also a reasonably handy weapon.

I want to give Wilde a wee mention too. I generally regard the lighter side of literature (by which i mean comedy, decedance etc.) as being of less value than the more serious stuff by virtue of the fact that being at the pub, with the mrs., with friends, playing sport, chess whatever is better for that kind of vibe than reading, but nothing matches your misery like Hamlet or Crime and Punishment. However, Wilde is an exception for me. Also, unlike many playwrites, he's so good to read - i don't feel like i'm missing out when i read as opposed to watch an Oscar Wilde play, he's just...so...cheeky

I haven't seen this post! Thanks Jamesian. I think some Irish writers has something that other writers don't have. I enjoy Heaney and Yeat's poems. And I also like Shaw and Wilde.
Does anyone know Irish women writers? I have read Elisabeth Bowen but I don't know anyone else. ;)

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Originally Posted by Mrs. Dalloway

I haven't seen this post! Thanks Jamesian. I think some Irish writers has something that other writers don't have. I enjoy Heaney and Yeat's poems. And I also like Shaw and Wilde.
Does anyone know Irish women writers? I have read Elisabeth Bowen but I don't know anyone else. ;)

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why not try Edna O'Brian, Lady Gregory, Mia Gallagher or If you like that Chick Lit stuff there are plenty of those writers. Cecilia Ahern, Sheila O'Fanagan, Meave Binchy( who wrote circle of friends), \deirdre Purcell, to name a few.

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Originally Posted by Niamh

why not try Edna O'Brian, Lady Gregory, Mia Gallagher or If you like that Chick Lit stuff there are plenty of those writers. Cecilia Ahern, Sheila O'Fanagan, Meave Binchy( who wrote circle of friends), \deirdre Purcell, to name a few.

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Thanks!! :D ;)

Hmm.

Circle of Friends - Maeve Binchy (the rest of her stuff is crap)
Oscar Wilde
Roddy Doyle
Paul Kearney