The Best Are Leaving: Emigration and Post-War Irish Culture (Paperback)

Clair Wills (author)

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Paperback 220 Pages / Published: 02/02/2015

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Synopsis

Clair Wills's The Best Are Leaving is an important and wide-ranging study of post-war Irish emigrant culture. Wills analyses representations of emigrants from Ireland and of Irish immigrants in Britain across a range of discourses, including official documents, sociological texts, clerical literature, journalism, drama, literary fiction, and popular literature and film. This book, written by a leading critic of Irish literature and culture, discusses topics such as the loss of the finest people from rural Ireland and the destruction of traditional communities; the anxieties of women emigrants and their desire for the benefits of modern consumer society; the stereotype of the drunken Irishman; the charming and authentic country Irish in the city; and the ambiguous meanings of Irish Catholicism in England, which was viewed as both a threatening and civilising force. Wills explores this theme of emigration through writers as diverse as M. J. Molloy, John B. Keane, Tom Murphy, and Edna O'Brien.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781107680876
Number of pages: 220
Weight: 320 g
Dimensions: 227 x 153 x 14 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

'Sharp and illuminating ... [Wills'] study is deeply impressive in the scope of its learning and the range of its sympathies.' Sunday Business Post
'A fine study of an absorbing subject.' Irish Mail on Sunday
'... Wills has written a thoughtful, open-minded and lucid book that shows that the 'great silence' which enveloped commentary on the Irish language in independent Ireland often characterized the emigrant experience too. One of the most moving and beautiful aspects of this compelling narrative is Wills's account of her own mother and of her attempts to negotiate for her family between two exacting cultures. She succeeded magnificently - and one outcome is this valuable and necessary book.' Breac