My Self, My Muse

Library Journal

It is difficult to ascertain the audience for this book, which consists of maddeningly tantalizing fragments. The Irish women poets featured here are Eil an N Chullean in, Mary O'Malley, Nuala N Dhomhnaill, Catherine Byron, Eithne Strong, Eavan Boland, Joan Newman, Moya Cannon, and Mebh McGuckian. Each provides one poem (some only excerpts), one studio photo, and an essay focusing on her identity as "Irish," "woman," and "poet." (Two of the essays have been published elsewhere.) If this is meant as an introduction to these writers' work, there is not enough poetry; if it is meant to be biographical or critical, the same problem is true, although in several cases this is the only autobiographical material published on the author. Everything provided is excellent, but it's like cuisine minceur you will need to find other sources of nourishment, which the book's fine bibliography will help you do. For large general collections and Irish and women's studies collections. Shelley Cox, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

This handsomely-bound volume contains a collection of essays by contemporary Irish women poets about how their lives inform their poetry. Haberstroh's (English, La Salle U.) introduction discusses the relationship between life experience, culture, and poetry in Ireland. The chapters that follow each include a poem and a companion prose piece by one author. Some authors and topics include Eil<`e>an N<`i> Chuillean<`a>in on nuns as a subject for a woman writer, Eithne Strong on being married to an Englishman, and Joan Newmann on coming of age. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)