1. CULTURE AND LITERATURE BŐDY EDIT 2013/2014 Language and Identity – Ireland and Northern-Ireland

2. Preliminary information – historical bg. 1800: Act of Union (Union of Great Britain and the Irish Kingdom) and its consequences 1845-1848: potato blight, starvation, emigration → drastic decrease in population Late 19 th century: fight for Home Rule (Charles Stuart Parnell) 1916: Easter: Easter Rising

3. Historical bg. 1919-1921: Civil War, Irish Free State in 1922 (1937: renamed itself as Ireland and declared itself republic in 1949) Northern-Ireland: 1922-1972: - limited independence, - Protestant, Unionist government in Belfast. - 1972: direct British rule. - 1986: Anglo-Irish Agreement, - 1998: Belfast Agreement: more freedom, cooperation bw. London and Belfast.

4. Relevant issues concerning culture Language: as a consequence of British colonization the Irish (Gaelic) language virtually disappears in the 18-19 th centuries Efforts to revive Gaelic Irish Literature: revival in the 18 - 19 th c.: romantic tendencies → Claim for a national culture including literature. Turn of the 19-20 th centuries: Irish Renaissance, especially in drama-writing and staging.

5. Language and identity in the 20 th century and contemporary dramas Late 19 th century: independence movements and cultural ones are intertwined. Cultural renaissance In play-writing: to write Irish national plays – mostly in English, sometimes in Irish. Organising figures: W. B. Yeats and his circle, especially Lady Augusta Gregory. 1904: foundation of the Abbey Theatre

6. Language The dilemma whether to write in English or Irish In most cases: compromises Common aim: an understandable language evoking the impression of hearing or reading the plays in Gaelic Irish. Earlier solutions (Abbey-writers): - Lady Gregory: English + Kiltartan dialect - John Millington Synge: a very complex dialect - English and dialects from Wicklow, Kerry and Galway. - John O’Casey: Dublin dialect of poor classes + Gaelic words

7. Language Contemporary literature: in general the same method: to mix English with a Gaelic dialect. - Brendan Behan and Hugh Leonard: Dublin dialect (like O’Casey) - George Fitzmaurice and John B. Keane: Kerry dialect - Brian Friel: Derry dialect

8. Irish English (Hiberno-English) language today Is gradually losing its Gaelic heritage and is becoming similar to standard English → Bigger challenge for the authors Strange phenomena: eg. the work of Eugene Watters / Eoghan O’Tuairisc as a symbol of the language dilemma.