The country of the young

Interpretations of youth and childhood in Irish culture

John Countryman & Kelly Mathews, editors

Throughout the history of modern Ireland, cultural representations of youth and childhood have served as focal points for discussions of social and political issues. Topics for the essays in this collection range from Famine-era women’s autobiographies to filmic portrayals of post-Good Friday Northern Ireland; from considerations of Patrick Pearse and Máirín Cregan to Anne Enright and Claire Keegan. The result is a complex and provocative view of childhood experiences in modern Ireland, and of the ways in which youth and childhood have been interpreted in the work of Irish writers, politicians, dramatists and filmmakers.

Contributors: Susan Cahill (Concordia U), Margaret Lasch Carroll (Albany College, New York), John Countryman (Berry College), Cara Delay (College of Charleston), Mary Fitzgerald-Hoyt (Siena College), Gavin Foster (Concordia U), Charlotte J. Headrick (Oregon State U), Kelly Matthews (Framingham State U), Nicole R. McClure (Ursinus College), Caitriona Moloney (Bradley U), Thomas O’Grady (U Mass Boston).

John Countryman is Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Theatre at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, US. Kelly Matthews is Assistant Professor of English at Framingham State U, Massachusetts.