Ibsen and the Irish Revival

the long version

This book examines Henrik Ibsen's influence on the literature of the Irish Revival and the reception of his plays in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Dublin. It highlights the international dimension of the key movement in the development of Ireland's national consciousness. Challenging the accepted view that the Irish Revival was rooted in the rejection of Ibsen, this project demonstrates Ibsen's importance for the development of the movement from a naively idealistic phenomenon to a self-reflexive, humanist version of modernism. Drawing on press reviews, diaries, and other unpublished archival material, Ibsen and the Irish Revival offers a comprehensive account of Ibsen's stage history in Dublin alongside a chronological analysis of his influence on Irish authors, in particular W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge, Lennox Robinson, James Joyce, George Moore, and Sean O'Casey.