1. CULTURE AND LITERATURE BŐDY EDIT 2014/2015 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. - The Troubles - 1972: direct British rule. 1985: Anglo-Irish (or Hillsborough) Agreement - the Irish Gov. has an advisory role - about the parades

4. Recent events 1998: Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement: more freedom, cooperation bw. London and Belfast. Everybody can be a citizen of the Republic of Ireland NI will remain in the UK as long as the majority of its people want it that way New institutions, eg. NI Assembly 2007: internal self-government with a First Minister

5. In Ireland… “Celtic Tiger Years”: 1990 – 2008 Critical and literary re-examination: Abandoning romantic (false) patriotism Feminism, female writers Globalization Irish abroad, diaspora (cca. 70 million people) – racial issues

6. 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.

7. 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, esp. Lady Augusta Gregory. 1904: the Abbey Theatre

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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. Linguistic hybridization Multiculturalism