Bernard Shaw, Sean O'Casey, and the Dead James Connolly

by Nelson O'Ceallaigh Ritschel

Overview

This book details the Irish socialistic tracks pursued by Bernard Shaw and Sean O’Casey, mostly after 1916, that were arguably impacted by the executed James Connolly. The historical context is carefully unearthed, stretching from its 1894 roots via W. B. Yeats’ dream of Shaw as a menacing, yet grinning sewing machine, to Shaw’s and O’Casey’s 1928 masterworks. In the process, Shaw’s War Issues for Irishmen, Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress, The Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman, Saint Joan, The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, and O’Casey’s The Story of the Irish Citizen Army, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars, and The Silver Tassie are reconsidered, revealing previously undiscovered textures to the masterworks. All of which provides a rethinking, a reconsideration of Ireland’s great drama of the 1920s, as well as furthering the knowledge of Shaw, O’Casey,and Connolly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030742744
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	07/21/2021
Series:	Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	782 KB

About the Author

Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschel is the author of Bernard Shaw, W. T. Stead, and the New Journalism (2017) and Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation (2011). He is a professor of Humanities, Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Table of Contents

Introduction.- Shaw, O’Casey, Connolly: Stitching the Foundation, 1890s-1915.- Revolutions: 1916/1917: Lynd, War Issues, the ITGWU.- Shaw’s Elderly Gentleman, O’Casey’s Trilogy Begins: Larkin/O’Brien.- Shaw’s Saint Joan: Martyred Vision.- The Plough and the Stars: The Lost Workers’ Republic.- The Intelligent Women’s Guide, The Silver Tassie, The Re-Conquest.- Epilogue.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The breadth of scholarship presented here is truly impressive not only in its scope but also in its deft integration. . . . This is a work that makes major contributions to several different fields: Irish culture, including early twentieth-century theatre, political and intellectual histories; Shaw studies; O'Casey scholarship; and the intersection of international socialist thought and nationalistic revolutionary action."(Gary Richardson, Professor of English, Mercer University, USA)

Editorial Reviews

In the monograph’s epilogue, Ritschel provides evidence that Conolly’s influence has continued, even breaking out in such unlikely places as a John Lennon song and a statue in front of the official residence of the current Irish president, Michael D. Higgins … . Well, historians have their role to play in preparing the conditions for society’s continued evolution, and by helping his readers understand the past, Ritschel has perhaps also shown us options for the future.” (Julie Sparks, Irish Literary Supplement, Vol. 42 (1), 2022)

“The book will be of great interest and value to those outside of Shavian interests. It is a fascinating and richly detailed account of the socialist and cultural history … . the book reminds us of the need for any study and full understanding of the period to consider class and labor politics at the heart of the political, social, and cultural events of the time.” (Barry Houlihan, SHAW The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Vol. 42 (1), 2022)

From the Publisher