Anglo-Irish autobiography

Library Journal

This is a scholarly exploration of the writings of a group that is problematically titled, the term Anglo-Irish suggesting racial, religious, and class distinctions that are difficult to delineate. Grubgeld (George Moore and the Autogenous Self), a specialist in the field of Anglo-Irish culture and literature, focuses on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, paying special attention to works produced between World War I and the present. She aims to show the tremendous tension felt by writers attempting to create an identity in the face of an "accelerated feeling of rapid social transformation"-writers who were proud to call themselves Irish but might consider their Catholic tenants simian brutes. The figures covered include Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Everett, W.B. Yeats, Lady Augusta Gregory, Mary Pakenham, Violet Powell, G.B. Shaw, and others. Contemporary female readers will find the emphasis on women's autobiographies especially compelling. The destruction of their way of life (by famine, civil strife, and world war) left many of these writers mourning their lost "security and peace" yet able to envision a future free from paralyzing class and social restrictions. Recommended primarily for literary collections in academic libraries, since the author assumes some knowledge of Irish history; also of interest for women's studies collections.-Felicity D. Walsh, Southern Polytechnic State Univ., Marietta, GA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.