'Shakespeare and the Irish Writer ... is [a] rich collection of essays looking at the particularities of Irish responses to Shakespeare across time. As the essays demonstrate, Ireland has made major contributions to the Shakespeare industry from the seventeenth century onwards ... Key figures like W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde are discussed at length but new respondents including Elizabeth Bowen and Frank McGuinness are also brought into the frame. Homage and parody are handled in equal measure and the complexities of colonial and post-colonial attitudes to the English bard are explored.' Shakespeare Survey Online, 2015 'As in other English-speaking countries, Shakespeare is a major influence on Irish writers and literature - However, there is a different attitude to Shakespeare and a different way of interpreting him in Ireland which takes into account our indigenous literary tradition, the colonial experience and relations with England. Here scholars from both sides of the Atlantic explore the influence of Shakespeare on Irish writers from W. B. Yeats to Frank McGuinness. They look at the performing of Shakespeare and the translation of his plays into Irish, taking on wider issues like Irish attitudes to bardolatry. The limited focus enables the contributors to concentrate on the most important Irish writers of the last century, who are shown in a new light by considering how Shakespeare influenced them. The papers also show how Irish writers have seen elements in his plays that the British have missed.' Books Ireland May 2010 Irish Theatre Magazine Link: http://www.irishtheatremagazine.ie/Reviews/Books/Shakespeare-and-the-Irish-Writer Patrick Lonergan NUI Galway Irish Theatre Magazine 12 May 2010 'Shakespeare can of course be a problem as well as an enablement for all writers, but, given his appropriation over the years in the service of English national and imperial ideas and ideals, he has been a particular problem for writers from colonial and , now, post-colonial countries. Exactly how far the colonial and post-colonial models fit Ireland has been extensively debated in recent times - This collection of essays therefore joins what is already a vigorous and quite extensive debate, and the editors' introduction encourages us to regard it as explicitly building on work already done - [This] new collection focuses exclusively on modern and contemporary writers, and is highly selective - Edward Dowden, Yeats, Douglas Hyde, Joyce, Shaw, Wilde, Elizabeth Bowen, Beckett and Frank McGuinness. In addition, there are essays on Shakespeare in Irish translations and on early 20th-century Irish parodies of Shakespeare. - Such relatively unexplored but potentially profitable forms of critical and creative dialogue are among the most useful attributes of this stimulating collection of essays.' Review of English Studies August 2010 'The book, edited by Janet Clare and Stephen O'Neill, comprises twelve essays with contributions from Declan Kiberd, Heather Ingman and Richard Meek among others, covering the responses of various Irish writers to Shakespeare and how his influence affected and sometimes shaped their works. ... builds on an earlier work devoted to the question of Shakespeare and Ireland, concerned with the Irish subtexts and contexts of Shakespeare's plays; this new book focuses on the relationship between Shakespeare and various Irish writers over the last hundred years or so including Shaw, Wilde, Joyce and Beckett. - Covering ground from Wilde through Shaw to Elizabeth Bowen and even Shakespeare as Gaeilge this is a comprehensive collection covering all aspects of Shakespearean study as it relates to the Bard's reception in Ireland.' Books Ireland December 2010 'Clare and O'Neill have put together an unusually informative and insightful collection. It will be of value to a broad audience, including scholars and ordinary readers interested in Shakespeare. - In sum, Clare and O'Neill have gathered together an excellent set of essays. They illuminate and challenge our understanding of Shakespeare, Irish writing and postcolonial literary creation. They also provide a good foundation for further theoretical and critical developments on these topics.' James Joyce Literary Supplement, Spring 2012
