Cultivating written Irish in Ireland's urban areas, 1700–1850

Edited by Liam Mac Mathúna & Regina Uí Chollatáin

Published by NUI Galway

This analysis of the cultivation of the Irish language in urban areas is the result of recent research by both editors and a conference on urban writing practices which was held in UCD Humanities Institute, 23–4 May 2013. The collection of essays raises questions regarding the links between urban life and the development of a modern Irish society. The evidence of emotion in early urban writings at the beginning of the 18thcentury queries the writing styles and practices which formed the thought processes of this and subsequent eras in writing and societal norms.The volume opens with a critique of the work of the Ó Neachtain scholarly circle in Dublin in the early 18th century, ranging over topics as varied as the evidence for contact with Swift to the influence of Rabelais (Cathal Ó Háinle, William J. Mahon, Vincent Morley and Lesa Ní Mhunghaile). Proinsias Ó Drisceoil draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework to evaluate Irish/English interaction in Callan, Co. Kilkenny, while Neil Buttimer and Fionntán de Brún analyse the impact of Irish in the public spheres of Cork and Belfast. Breandán Ó Madagáin and Nollaig Ó Muraíle trace the fortunes of Irish west of the Shannon, in Limerick, Galway and Sligo. Liam Mac Mathúna and Regina Uí Chollatáin, editors of the volume, contribute an introductory essay which situates the initial conference’s theme within Léann na Gaeilge, or Irish language studies, in general.

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