DOCSLIB.ORG

Women's Modernism in Peripheral Catholic Europe

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Women's Modernism in Peripheral Catholic Europe Women’s Modernism in Peripheral Catholic Europe: The Poetry of Blanaid Salkeld and Concha Méndez Ciara Catherine McGrath A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2013 Reading Committee: Brian Reed, Chair Anthony L. Geist Gordana Crnkovic Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Comparative Literature ©Copyright 2013 Ciara Catherine McGrath University of Washington Abstract Women’s Modernism in Peripheral Catholic Europe: The Poetry of Blanaid Salkeld and Concha Méndez Ciara C McGrath Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Dr. Brian Reed English Department Hindered by both the gendering of modernism and entrenched patriarchal Catholic notions of gender, the Irish poet Blanaid Salkeld and the Spanish poet Concha Méndez have been respectively erased from their national canon or only partially accepted. Over twenty years later, Bonnie Kime Scott’s seminal work, Gender of Modernism, arguing to reread women poets under a broader definition of modernism is still relevant to the recovery of women’s modernism in Ireland and Spain. Additionally, because of the period in which these two poets wrote (from the mid 1920s to the end of the 1930s), their modernism is of special interest because it involves a feminist critique of state, institution and Catholic patriarchal hierarchy. Their feminist projects (intended or not) are politicized in significant and unexpected ways, and take on a strong political and aesthetic sense of urgency as their respective governments’ contestation of modernity had direct impacts on women’s basic freedoms and liberties. What we find in the recovery of both Irish and Spanish women’s modernism is that it is not simply about trying to find narrative or political alternatives to their male counterparts, or even just about revising the marriage plot. The work of these poets confronts issues between female autonomy and agency and the conservative desire to forcefully shape the constructs of nation, state and family. Our literary histories are limited by national and stylistic boundaries, and these can blind us to other important things. For both Salkeld and Méndez, their independent vocation and position as poets, giving voice to a marginal female experience, create unease in the literary world and complicate their full integration in to the national canon. Also, there are fundamental questions of institutional powers of authority shared between Ireland and Spain that reveal a comparable social situation for both women. These include the rise of right-wing conservativism, based on fascist principles, the politicization of gender, and the inextricable ties between the Catholic Church and the government, all of which help shape similar experiences and reactions in their poetry and allow for new modernist readings beyond stylistic and national limitations. DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my loving family and many friends. Particularly to my late mother Shirley who always believed in my ability to finish and regretfully missed it by one day, and to my father who has supported me every step of the way. I must also thank my dear friends who have been my family away from home, Suzanne Goodman, Kristin Ramsdale, Meg McFarland, Paloma Borreguero and Gus Perez, who never gave up believing I could finish this, and who have spent countless hours over these years helping me overcome my doubts, cheering me on and being my number one supporters. You never tired of me and you never left my side. Thank you. Acknowledgements I would like to thank all of those people and institutions who helped make this dissertation possible. First, I would like to thank my advisor and chair, Dr. Brian Reed for all of his encouragement, guidance, patience, and time. His unwavering support and enthusiasm in my work and his dedication to helping me achieve my goals had the most impact in my ability to finish this on time. Not to mention his commitment to reading everything over and over again to ensure that what I submitted was ready to be presented. Thank you so much. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Anthony Geist, who helped provide me access to the National Library of Spain and to the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid, which helped kickstart my third and fourth chapters after a period of stagnancy, and who with unwavering humor continued to encourage me to just sit down and write, and Dr. Gordana Crnkovic for sticking with me despite the many years of downtime and absences. I would also like to thank the National Library of Ireland, National Archives of Ireland and the Trinity College, Dublin Library for the incredible access to all of their manusicripts and the kind support of all of their staff. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter One: Early Feminist Politics in the Poetry of Blanaid Salkeld 14 Chapter Two: Blanaid Salkeld’s Feminist Modernism in the 1930s 57 Chapter Three: Freedom and Modernity in Concha Méndez’s Early Poetry 111 Chapter Four: Fending Off Silence: Concha Méndez in the 1930s 169 Conclusion 229 Works Cited 234 Women’s Modernism in Peripheral Catholic Europe: The Poetry of Blanaid Salkeld and Concha Méndez Introduction In 1990 Bonnie Kime Scott’s Gender of Modernism was a groundbreaking anthology that inaugurated the study of British and American women’s modernism. This landmark intervention into modernist studies showed what is now well known, women’s modernism does not necessarily mean the same thing as it does for men’s modernism, and what constitutes formal or thematic innovation in writing can be very different for women. The significant impact of this study in the subsequent decades is seen in the increased scholarship in different female and feminist writers from British and American traditions, though Scott notes that the “scholars have been investigating the marginalized archive of women writers” “[s]ince the early 1970s” (2). It is, however, a very different picture once you turn your attention to the peripheral Catholic countries of Ireland and Spain. The speed of even the basic recovery or reassessment efforts of female modernist poets has been shockingly slow. This issue became glaringly obvious during my research for my MA essay on Mary O’Malley, a contemporary Irish poet where I first encountered the deep-rooted issues of canon erasure faced by women poets. The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing was published in 1991 in Ireland. In three volumes, in over 4,000 pages, only five women writers’ names appear in the “Contemporary Writing Section” between 1900 and 1988, this includes writers writing in English or Irish (Ní Dhomhnaill 1291). The local and international reaction to the continued neglect of women from the national canon in modern day Ireland was one of outrage. This led to the commissioning of initially just one volume dedicated to women, but by 2002, two volumes documenting Irish women’s history and culture were published. In its introduction, one of the editors points to 1 something that underlines an important difference between the recovery of Irish women’s writing (and Spanish too, for that matter) and that of their American and British counterparts: “In the 1970s and 1980s… the project of defending and redefining Ireland did not accommodate the reevaluation and recovery of women’s words and history” (Bourke, IV xxxiv). Instead, both Ireland and Spain were looking to shed their anti-modern and anti-progress reputations, and grant women some of the basic freedoms and liberties denied them over the last forty or so years. Despite the Field Day fiasco, by the end of the 1990s there was a general consensus that women’s poetry “was experiencing a renaissance” “in the publishing houses and the bookstores” (Moloney 4). Yet in a collection of essays published in 2003 (a year after the women’s Field Day volumes) about Irish women writers and poets, Caitriona Moloney observes that this “renaissance” did not translate or was not reflected “in academia, literary criticism, and journalism, [where] women writers still [were] not get[ting] anthologized, critiqued, or reviewed with the same attention as men” (Moloney 4). The exception belongs to four contemporary women poets whose names appear over and over again in anthologies, articles and reviews, these are: Eavan Boland, Medbh McGuckian, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. I had not considered the MA essay on O’Malley a recovery project, but it became clear that little to no attention was given to poets outside of the four named, and once theirs was mentioned in an anthology, review, etc… it appeared not much more needed to be said about Irish women’s writing. More recently, An Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry was published in 2010, and the blurb on the Harvard University Press website states, “never before has there been a single- volume anthology of modern Irish poetry so significant and groundbreaking…. Collected here is a comprehensive representation of Irish poetic achievement in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.” Only nine women are represented out of over fifty, and there are no women named 2 prior to Boland, McGuckian, Ní Dhomhnaill or Ní Chuilleanáin. This “comprehensive representation” furthers the misguided belief that no woman of significant import wrote poetry before the 1960s. The other five names suggest an attempt to reflect the “renaissance” of contemporary women poets. The absence of any female modernist poet demonstrates the importance of this recovery effort for Irish studies. There is no identical example like the Field Day controversy in Spain. However, contemporary Spanish women poets are experiencing the same anthology issues as their Irish counterparts. Echoing Caitriona Moloney’s complaint over the disconnect between the “renaissance” of women writers publishing and their appearance in anthologies, María Rosal states in her introduction to her 2006 anthology Con voz propia: Estudio y antología comentada de la poesía escrita por mujeres, 1970-2005: “Boom de la poesía escrita por mujeres.”..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Petrichor Magazine 20Th August 2019 Third Edition
    Petrichor Magazine 20th August 2019 Third Edition Featuring Cover Article at the forefront on the destiny of KASHMIR E N V I R O N M E N T C R I S I S & H O W T O W I N I T ? A S U F I J O U R N E Y P O E T I C E X P R E S S I O N S D E P R E S S I O N R E M E D I E S I N T E R E S T I N G S T O R I E S A R T T H E R A P H Y I N T E R E S T I N G T R A V E L O G U E www.PetrichorPages.com 1 Petrichor Magazine Cover Article Kashmir: A silenced spectator of its own destiny by Fatima Hassan Kashmir with its own voice suppressed is the talk of the On the other hand, as India tries to keep the world out of world. With most of the world giving statements that Kashmir issue it also says that India welcomes bilateral reek of indifference, Pakistan is still desperately trying to solution but with a condition for Pakistan to stop make the world come together and resolve the Kashmir terrorism. Pakistan has fought a long and hard war issue. On the other hand, India with its aggressive against terrorism and does not want any more conflicts unilateral moves is trying to convince the world that while the Indian Permanent Representative to UN, Syed Kashmir is Indian Territory and Kashmir issue a purely Akbaruddin, delivered the stance of New Delhi saying Indian business, their wishes till now seem to be that the Pakistan must “Stop Terror to Start Talks”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dublin Gate Theatre Archive, 1928 - 1979
    Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections Northwestern University Libraries Dublin Gate Theatre Archive The Dublin Gate Theatre Archive, 1928 - 1979 History: The Dublin Gate Theatre was founded by Hilton Edwards (1903-1982) and Micheál MacLiammóir (1899-1978), two Englishmen who had met touring in Ireland with Anew McMaster's acting company. Edwards was a singer and established Shakespearian actor, and MacLiammóir, actually born Alfred Michael Willmore, had been a noted child actor, then a graphic artist, student of Gaelic, and enthusiast of Celtic culture. Taking their company’s name from Peter Godfrey’s Gate Theatre Studio in London, the young actors' goal was to produce and re-interpret world drama in Dublin, classic and contemporary, providing a new kind of theatre in addition to the established Abbey and its purely Irish plays. Beginning in 1928 in the Peacock Theatre for two seasons, and then in the theatre of the eighteenth century Rotunda Buildings, the two founders, with Edwards as actor, producer and lighting expert, and MacLiammóir as star, costume and scenery designer, along with their supporting board of directors, gave Dublin, and other cities when touring, a long and eclectic list of plays. The Dublin Gate Theatre produced, with their imaginative and innovative style, over 400 different works from Sophocles, Shakespeare, Congreve, Chekhov, Ibsen, O’Neill, Wilde, Shaw, Yeats and many others. They also introduced plays from younger Irish playwrights such as Denis Johnston, Mary Manning, Maura Laverty, Brian Friel, Fr. Desmond Forristal and Micheál MacLiammóir himself. Until his death early in 1978, the year of the Gate’s 50th Anniversary, MacLiammóir wrote, as well as acted and designed for the Gate, plays, revues and three one-man shows, and translated and adapted those of other authors.
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to the Jack Coughlin Collection, 1973-1986
    Bridgewater State University Maxwell Library Archives & Special Collections Jack Coughlin Collection, 1973-1986 (MSS-034) Finding Aid Compiled by Orson Kingsley, June 2018 Last Updated: June 13, 2018 Maxwell Library Bridgewater State University 10 Shaw Road / Bridgewater, MA 02325 / (508) 531-1389 Finding Aid: Jack Coughlin Collection (MSS-034) 2 Volume: 1.25 linear feet (2 document boxes, 3 framed items) Acquisition: All items in this manuscript group were donated to Bridgewater State University by Maureen Connelly in 2012 and 2018, with one etching donated by the Paula Vadeboncoeur estate in 2016. Access: Access to this record group is unrestricted. Copyright: The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, the Maxwell Library will provide information about copyright owners and other restrictions, but the legal determination ultimately rests with the researcher. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the University Archivist. Jack Coughlin Collection Biographical Sketch Jack Coughlin is an artist of Irish-American heritage who is well known for his portraits of literary figures and musicians. His prints, drawings and watercolors have been exhibited widely across the United States and Europe. They are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Collection of Fine Arts in Washington D.C., the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences in Virginia, the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, the University of Colorado, the Philadelphia Free Public Library, Staedelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfort, Germany, the New University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland and in several other important museum, university and library collections worldwide.
    [Show full text]
  • The Early Work of Austin Clarke the Early Work (1916-1938)
    THE EARLY WORK OF AUSTIN CLARKE THE EARLY WORK (1916-1938) OF AUSTIN CLARKE By MAURICE RIORDAN, M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University March 1981 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (1981) McMASTER UNIVERSITY (English) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: The Early Work (1916-1938) of Austin Clarke. AUTHOR: Maurice Riordan, B.A. (Cork) M.A. (Cork) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Brian John NUMBER OF Fll.GES: vi, 275 ii ABSTRACT Austin Clarke dedicated himself to the ideal of an independent Irish literature in English. This dedication had two principal consequences for his work: he developed a poetic style appropriate to expressing the Irish imagination, and he found inspiration in the matter of Ireland, in hex mythology and folklore, in her literary, artistic and __ religious traditions, and in the daily life of modern Ireland. The basic orientation of Clarke's work determines the twofold purpose of this thesis. It seeks to provide a clarifying background for his poetry, drama and fiction up to 1938; and, in examining the texts in their prope.r context, it seeks to reveal the permanent and universal aspects of his achievement. Clarke's early development in response to the shaping influence of the Irish Revival is examined in the opening chapter. His initial interest in heroic saga is considered, but, principally, the focus is on his effort to establish stylistic links between the Anglo-Irish and the Gaelic traditions, an effort that is seen to culminate with his adoption of assonantal verse as an essential element in his poetic technique.
    [Show full text]
  • HEANEY, SEAMUS, 1939-2013. Seamus Heaney Papers, 1951-2004
    HEANEY, SEAMUS, 1939-2013. Seamus Heaney papers, 1951-2004 Emory University Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library Atlanta, GA 30322 404-727-6887 [email protected] Collection Stored Off-Site All or portions of this collection are housed off-site. Materials can still be requested but researchers should expect a delay of up to two business days for retrieval. Descriptive Summary Creator: Heaney, Seamus, 1939-2013. Title: Seamus Heaney papers, 1951-2004 Call Number: Manuscript Collection No. 960 Extent: 49.5 linear feet (100 boxes), 3 oversized papers boxes (OP), and AV Masters: 1 linear foot (2 boxes) Abstract: Personal papers of Irish poet Seamus Heaney consisting mostly of correspondence, as well as some literary manuscripts, printed material, subject files, photographs, audiovisual material, and personal papers from 1951-2004. Language: Materials entirely in English. Administrative Information Restrictions on access Collection stored off-site. Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance to access this collection. Special restrictions apply: Use copies have not been made for audiovisual material in this collection. Researchers must contact the Rose Library at least two weeks in advance for access to these items. Collection restrictions, copyright limitations, or technical complications may hinder the Rose Library's ability to provide access to audiovisual material. Terms Governing Use and Reproduction All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction. Emory Libraries provides copies of its finding aids for use only in research and private study. Copies supplied may not be copied for others or otherwise distributed without prior consent of the holding repository.
    [Show full text]
  • A Reappraisal of the Short Stories of Mary Lavin
    A Reappraisal of the Short Stories of Mary Lavin Theresa Wray A Thesis submitted in Candidature for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff University July 2013 i Summary This thesis re-examines selected short stories of Irish writer Mary Lavin, placing a particular focus on fiction she published from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Drawing on extensive archival research into Lavin’s unpublished correspondence, it uncovers how the transatlantic aspects of Lavin’s biography intersect with key elements of the social and cultural history of mid-twentieth-century Ireland. It also provides vital new evidence to scholars through its explicit use of correspondence between Lavin’s father, Tom Lavin, and his employers, the Bird family. The thesis shows how a mixture of autobiographical experience, social and political context and an empathetic awareness of the significance of various cultural inheritances, inflects Lavin’s realist style. Analysing important stories across the main span of her writing, the thesis contends that Lavin is a major figure, with a unique perspective on her times. Despite valuable early literary studies in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and some increasing attention during the 1990s, we have only recently begun to see a more sustained resurgence of interest in Lavin’s fiction. While such a shift is welcome, this thesis argues that a perceived lack of complexity in Lavin’s fiction still remains and needs to be challenged in order to reveal the true value of her oeuvre. The thesis offers a new analysis of Lavin’s writing that tracks major themes, appraises her use of the novella form, and recognises the richness and significance of her contribution to the Irish literary canon.
    [Show full text]
  • Come, Meet Your Gladiator Page 10
    No. 628 • July 11, 2019 • outwordmagazine.com Come, Meet Your Gladiator page 10 California State Fair Concerts Return page 18 Natural Cork “Spider-Man” & An vs. Screw Cap Exciting “Star Wars” On Audiodork’s page 14 Summertime The Big Screen Fantasy Xmas Exhibits page 17 page 13 page 16 Performance. Art. The 2019 Subaru BRZ®. A classic, rear-wheel drive sports car layout. A 205-hp22 Direct-Injection SUBARU BOXER® engine. An available Performance Package, including Brembo® brakes and SACHS® shock absorbers. It’s precisely engineered for the art of driving. Subaru, BRZ, Impreza, Legacy, WRX, EyeSight, and SUBARU BOXER are registered trademarks. Brembo is a registered trademark of Freni Brembo S.p.A. Pandora is a registered trademark of Pandora Media, Inc. Recaro is a registered trademark of Recaro GmbH & Co. KG. SACHS is a registered trademark of ZF Friedrichshafen AG. 2EPA-estimated highway fuel economy for 2019 Subaru Legacy 2.5i models. Actual mileage may vary. 7EPA-estimated highway fuel economy for 2019 Subaru Impreza CVT Sport sedan models. Actual mileage may vary. 15EyeSight is a driver-assist system that may not operate optimally under all driving conditions. The driver is always responsible for safe and attentive driving. System effectiveness depends on many factors, such as vehicle maintenance, weather, and road conditions. See your owner’s manual for complete details on system operation and limitations. 22Manual transmission models only. 23Performance Package models are equipped with brake pads that may produce higher levels of
    [Show full text]
  • Consuelo Berges (1899 - 1988)
    Biografías de traductores Consuelo Berges (1899 - 1988). España Perfil biográfico. Consuelo Berges Rábago destacó como traductora y encabezó las reivindicaciones para el reconocimiento de los derechos de autor de las traducciones, pero también publicó obras como escritora y defendió siempre los derechos de la mujer, también en el ámbito masónico al que perteneció. Nació en Ucieda, una pequeña aldea cántabra. Hija de madre soltera de familia republicana y orientación librepensadora, no fue a la escuela, sino que se educó leyendo en español y francés todo lo que había en la biblioteca familiar. En 1914, siendo adolescente, se trasladó a Santander, donde se preparó para entrar en la Escuela Normal de Maestras, cuyos métodos provenían de la Institución Libre de Enseñanza. Terminados dichos estudios ejerció en Cabezón de la Sal, muy cerca de su pueblo natal, preparando alumnos de bachillerato. En esta época comienza sus colaboraciones con la prensa, comenzando a escribir artículos en el periódico santanderino “La Región”. Más tarde escribiría también en “El Sol” y “Revista de las Españas” (Madrid) y en “La Nación” (Buenos Aires), suscitando interés con sus polémicos puntos de vista entre los intelectuales de la época. Esta repercusión la llevó a entablar correspondencia con algunos intelectuales como Ortega y Gasset, Azorín, Francisco Ayala o Clara Campoamor. En 1926, emigra a Perú y permanece en Sudamérica cinco años, visitando Bolivia y Argentina, dando conferencias y colaborando en varias publicaciones. En 1931 regresa a Europa, y tras una estancia en París, se asienta en Madrid y entra a formar parte de la Logia masónica de Adopción “Amor”.
    [Show full text]
  • From Celtic Twilight to Revolutionary Dawn: the Irish Review, 1911-14
    From Celtic Twilight to Revolutionary Dawn The Irish Review 1911-1914 By Ed Mulhall The July 1913 edition of The Irish Review , a monthly magazine of Irish Literature, Art and Science, leads off with an article " Ireland, Germany and the Next War" written under the pseudonym " Shan Van Vocht ". The article is a response to a major piece written by Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes books and a noted writer on international issues, in the Fortnightly Review of February 1903 called "Great Britain and the Next War". Shan Van Vocht takes issue with a central conclusion of Doyle's piece that Ireland's interests are one with Great Britain if Germany were to be victorious in any conflict. Doyle writes: "I would venture to say one word here to my Irish fellow- countrymen of all political persuasions. If they imagine that they can stand politically or economically while Britain falls, they are woefully mistaken. The British Fleet is their one shield. If it be broken, Ireland will go down. They may well throw themselves heartily into the common defense, for no sword can transfix England without the point reaching Ireland behind her." However The Irish Review author proposes to show that "Ireland, far from sharing the calamities that must necessarily fall on Great Britain from defeat by a Great Power, might conceivably thereby emerge into a position of much prosperity." The contents page of the July 1913 issue of The Irish Review In supporting this provocative stance the author initially tackles two aspects of the accepted British view of Ireland's fate under these circumstances: that Ireland would remain tied with Britain under German rule or that she might be annexed by the victor.
    [Show full text]
  • Madonna Estrenó Ayer El Video De “Medellín” a Dueto Con Maluma
    JUEVES 25 DE ABRIL DE 2019 12 www.opinion.com.mx El actor Demián Bichir confirmó con un mensaje conmovedor, Madonna estrenó ayer el video de la noticia de la muerte de su esposa, la actriz y productora canadiense Stefanie Sherk, “Medellín” a dueto con Maluma quién falleció este 20 de abril a los 35 años de edad. •En el disco se incluirán dos duetos con Maluma y uno con Anitta. Muere su esposa Este martes se conmemoró el “Día Internacional del Libro”, les dejamos esta fotografía histórica de cuatro grandes escritores reunidos, en el “Festival Internacional del Libro en Guadalajara durante el 2006”... En la imagen se muestra a Carlos Fuentes (10 AYER a través de un evento exclusivo televisado noviembre 1928 / 15 mayo 2012), José Saramago (16 noviembre a nivel mundial en MTV y uniendo a los fans en 1922 / 18 junio 2010), Carlos Monsiváis (4 mayo 1938 / 19 junio redes sociales con el HT #MADONNAxMTV, 2010) y Gabriel García Márquez (6 marzo 1927 / 17 abril 2014), Sway Calloway y el DJ británico Trevor Nelson los cuatro ya fallecieron... presentaron “MTV Presents: Madonna Live”, un programa exclusivo con Madonna para estrenar el video musical de “Medellín”, además de presentar Día Internacional del Libro una sesión de preguntas y respuestas con fans desde Londres y conexión a eventos alrededor del Becky G presenta “La mundo en Milán, São Paulo y Nueva York, también fue transmitido mediante su cuenta de Instagram de la cantante. Respuesta” junto a Maluma El tan esperando 14° álbum de estudio de Madonna, “Madame X”, se lanzará el próximo 14 de junio a nivel mundial.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Title: Modernist Presses and the Gayfield Press a Brief Description Of
    Title: Modernist Presses and the Gayfield Press A brief description of the Gayfield Press is outlined in the Liam Miller’s history of The Dolmen Press which Miller owned and edited. Miller’s first publication was Thomas Kinsella’s The Starlit Eye which he printed on a wooden press: “loaned from Cecil French Salkeld, who used it to publish his Gayfield Press series of Dublin poets and artists”.1 Since the publication of Miller’s text, the Gayfield Press has received little attention and its history has been lost or forgotten. Furthermore, the role of Blanaid Salkeld as a publisher has been virtually erased from literary studies of the period. This paper sheds light on this little-known feminist press, and foregrounds the key role of Salkeld as a contributor, editor and publisher of the Gayfield Press. The consideration of this press as a feminist enterprise reinstates Salkeld back into the narrative of Irish publishing and enhances our understanding of private printing presses as a vital force for female creativity. Blanaid Salkeld (1880-1959), was born in India and brought up in Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin. Her early influences included poet John Keats and the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, a friend of her father, whom she met as a young girl in India.2 She married an Englishman in the Bombay civil service in 1902 but was widowed and returned to Ireland in 1906 with her son, the artist Cecil ffrench Salkeld (1903-1969). She joined the Abbey Theatre, appearing under the stage name Nell Byrne and took the lead role in George Fitzmaurice’s Country Dressmaker in 1907.
    [Show full text]
  • Irish Responses to Fascist Italy, 1919–1932 by Mark Phelan
    Provided by the author(s) and NUI Galway in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title Irish responses to Fascist Italy, 1919-1932 Author(s) Phelan, Mark Publication Date 2013-01-07 Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10379/3401 Downloaded 2021-09-27T09:47:44Z Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above. Irish responses to Fascist Italy, 1919–1932 by Mark Phelan A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisor: Prof. Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh Department of History School of Humanities National University of Ireland, Galway December 2012 ABSTRACT This project assesses the impact of the first fascist power, its ethos and propaganda, on key constituencies of opinion in the Irish Free State. Accordingly, it explores the attitudes, views and concerns expressed by members of religious organisations; prominent journalists and academics; government officials/supporters and other members of the political class in Ireland, including republican and labour activists. By contextualising the Irish response to Fascist Italy within the wider patterns of cultural, political and ecclesiastical life in the Free State, the project provides original insights into the configuration of ideology and social forces in post-independence Ireland. Structurally, the thesis begins with a two-chapter account of conflicting confessional responses to Italian Fascism, followed by an analysis of diplomatic intercourse between Ireland and Italy. Next, the thesis examines some controversial policies pursued by Cumann na nGaedheal, and assesses their links to similar Fascist initiatives. The penultimate chapter focuses upon the remarkably ambiguous attitude to Mussolini’s Italy demonstrated by early Fianna Fáil, whilst the final section recounts the intensely hostile response of the Irish labour movement, both to the Italian regime, and indeed to Mussolini’s Irish apologists.
    [Show full text]