Irish authors

Irish authors 

        Ireland, though a relatively small country, has made a huge contribution to the world of literature. 

 Indeed, Irish has the third oldest literature in Europe (after Greek and Latin), 

the most significant body of written literature (both ancient and recent) of any Celtic language  and is  one  of  the  few  countries  which  count  4  Nobel  Prizes  in  literature. The  great  authors  are  William Butler  Yeats,  George  Bernard  Shaw,  Samuel  Beckett  and  Seamus  Heaney. 

Irish literature is rooted one the one hand in Celtic mythology, and on the other hand in the suffering and hardships the Irish people have experienced during their history.

       Irish literature has existed since the arrival of Christianity in the 5^th century, because it corresponds to the introduction of the Latin alphabet in the Irish language.

 Most stories were written in Latin or in Gaelic, the celtic traditionnal language. Before that, people used a simple writing system called “ogham”. Old Irish literature consisted of original lyric poetry and ancient prose tales. The earliest poetry, composed in the 6th century, illustrates a vivid religious faith or describe nature.

 Contrary to other European sagas, Irish's ones were written in prose. This continued to be cultivated in the mediaeval period in the form of more fantastic tales, talking about, for instance, fairies and magic powers. 

The 17th century saw the tightening of English control over Ireland, as a result,the gaelic language started to disappear from literature. However that century also corresponds to the apparition of  Irish literature in English with very famous novelists, poets and dramatists such as Jonathan Swift or later Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce...     


             So Ireland  can be proud of  famous authors known  all over  the  world  such  as  Jonathan  Swift, Bram  stoker , Oscar Wilde, Clive Staple Lewis or ever James Joyce.

And we can note that most of  them studied in Trinity  College which was  founded by Queen Elizabeth I  in 1592 and is the oldest university in Ireland.

Here is some information you should know about the 5 most famous:

Jonathan Swift  (1667-1745) was a priest and also a writer. He wrote Gulliver's Travels (1726) which is a satire but for children.


Bram Stoker was born 1847 in Clontarf  (north  of  Dublin) and died in 1912 in London.  He is an Irish  writer, author of many novels and became  really known with  Dracula  which  is  the  story  of  a  vampire  who  drinks humans' blood.





Oscar  Wilde  was  born  in  Dublin in  1854 and  died  in 1900  in  Paris. He’s both a  writer,  a  playwright  and  a poet. And The  picture  of  Dorian  Gray  (1890) ,a  philosophical  fiction is a classic reference. This story   made  his  reputation but also his homosexuality .

James Joyce (1882-1941) is considered as one of the most influential writers (but he also wrote poems) of the XXth century. His famous works are books, contained many short stories like Ulysse in which the events of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in a variety of literary styles.

Clive  Staples  Lewis,  more  famous  under  the  name  of  C.  S. Lewis which he used to sign his work, was born  in  Belfast in 1898 and  died in  Oxford  in  1963. He  is  still  very famous  for  his  fictional  work,  especially  with  The  Screwtape  Letters,  or  with  The Chronicles  of  Narnia  which  was  adaptated  in  movies.

And finally, Samuel Beckett  (1906-1989) was  a minimalist playwright, but perfectly in tune with the transformed world after the savagery of the Second World War. His best work is his brilliant play “Waiting for Godot.”

In  conclusion, the  Irish  litterature  is  renowned  all  around  the world. It’s a  country which is full of great  authors, playwrights, poets … 
So if you love reading, come to Ireland! ;)

Questions 

How long has Irish literature existed ?
What is the name of the school founded by Elizabeth I ?
Who wrote Dracula ?

By Emeline, Marie and Justine 2°2