Page 29 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

A POR TR AIT OF IRELAND  27

mid­20th century such as
the gifted Patrick Kavanagh
and Belfast­born Louis
MacNeice, often considered
to be one of the finest poets
of his generation.

The writer Brendan Behan (left) enjoying the company in a Dublin pub
and shaped the work of Contemporary Writers
gener ations of writers.
Bloomsday, which is named Ireland’s proud literary tradition
after one of the novel’s charac­ is today upheld by a stream of
Caricature of protesters at Dublin’s Abbey ters, Leo pold Bloom, is still talented writers from both
Theatre in 1907 celebrated annually in the North and South. Among the
city. The last of the three finest are Cork­born William
Three Literary Giants literary giants, novelist and Trevor, regarded as a master of
playwright Samuel Beckett the short story. Anne Enright
From the mass of talent to (see p67), was another of (2007) and John Banville (2005)
emerge in Irish literature, three Dublin’s sons, though he later are both Man Booker Prize­
figures stand out as visionaries emigrated to France. His winners. Roddy Doyle is known
in their fields. W B Yeats (see themes of alienation, despair, for mining his working­class
p237) spent half his life outside and the futility of human origins in novels such as The
Ireland but is forever linked to existence pervade his Snapper and Paddy Clarke Ha
its rural west. A writer of best­known plays, Ha Ha. Other established
wistful, melan cholic poetry, Waiting for Irish writers are Joseph
he was at the forefront of the Godot and O’Connor, Cecelia Ahern,
Irish Revival, helping forge a Endgame. Maeve Binchy, Colum
new national cultural identity. McCann, Edna O’Brien
James Joyce (see p94) was and Colm Tóibín.
another trail blazer – his Among Ireland’s
complex narrative and stream con tem porary
of consciousness techniques poets, the late
influenced the development Séamus Heaney
of the modern novel. Ulysses and Derek Mahon
describes a day in the life The poet Patrick Kavanagh are perhaps the
of Joyce’s beloved Dublin celebrating Bloomsday most outstanding.
Ireland on Screen
Ireland has long been fertile ground for the
world’s film­makers, and its people have
been the subjects of major films, notably
The Crying Game (1992), In the Name of the
Father (1994), Michael Collins (1996), Once
(2007) and The Guard (2011). Another
popular film was The Commitments (1991).
Filmed in and around Dublin with an all­Irish
cast, it was based on a novel by Roddy
Doyle. More recently Ireland has become
a top destination for big­budget television
productions. TV shows such as Ripper
Street, Vikings and Game of Thrones were
Cast of The Commitments, written by Roddy Doyle all shot on location around the island.

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