A few days ago I had my first IRE 123 20th Century Anglo-Irish Drama class, it was very interesting and marked the beginning of my historical, literary, and artistic writer’s journey here in Galway, Ireland.
“A Brief Literary History of Ireland”
From the 15th to the early 20th century, the Irish have been stereotyped in terms of the paddy image. The paddy is a caricature characterized as happy, easy-going and a drunk. The rural countryside of Ireland was said to be populated by a paddy-like peasantry (low social class) poor and struggling. This paddy image of Ireland was at the core of the Irish identity before the advent of the Literary Revival including W.B. Yeats, John Synge, George Russell (AE), Isabella Augusta Gregory and Douglas Hyde, among others. To dismantle the paddy image, the Literary Revivalists’s romanticized the peasant’s life. (This is the only time I’ll mention my class.)
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The Literary Revival movement opened up a conversation about the Irish identity that still goes on today, and this is one of the reasons why Ireland is such a fascinating place for me.
From now on my dear reader, you and I will find ourselves on a journey of artistic exploration full of lots of fun!
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