New Books in Irish Studies

Mar 09 2025 220 ep. 52 mins 119
New Books in Irish Studies Podcast artwork

Interviews with Scholars of Ireland about their New Books

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Madalina Armie and Veronica Membrive, "Trauma, Memory and Silence of the Irish Woman in Contemporary Literature" (Routledge, 2023)

Mar 09 2025 68 mins  
Trauma, Memory and Silence of the Irish Woman in Contemporary Literature (Routledge, 2023) studies the manifestations of female trauma through the exploration of multiple wounds, inflicted on both body and mind and the soul of Irish women from Northern Ireland and the Republic within a contemporary context, and in literary works written at the turn of the twenty-first century and b

Ariane Sherine, "The Real Sinéad O'Connor" (White Owl, 2024)

Mar 08 2025 51 mins  
Sinéad O'Connor, renowned for her angelic voice and activism, overcame a tumultuous upbringing to become a global protest singer and advocate for social justice. O'Connor achieved worldwide success as an angel-voiced, shaven-headed Irish singer of heartfelt songs, but she was far more than just a pop star - she was also an activist and a survivor. Reeling from a troubled childhood

Elizabeth T. Craft, "Yankee Doodle Dandy: George M. Cohan and the Broadway Stage" (Oxford UP, 2024)

Mar 05 2025 50 mins  
George M. Cohan was one of those rare Broadway figures who was a composer, lyricist, playwright, performer, director, theater owner, and star actor. He could, quite literally, do it all. In his day, he was famous as the "Yankee Doodle Boy" from his hit song and as the "Man Who Owned Broadway" from his musical of the same name. Cohan's songs and shows captured the spirit of an era w

Gregory Castle et al., "The Irish Bildungsroman" (Syracuse UP, 2025)

Feb 26 2025 71 mins  
The classical Bildungsroman charted an idealized path of human development—the harmonization of individual desires with societal norms in the formation of a well-rounded, liberal subject. But what happens when this Enlightenment blueprint for self-cultivation runs up against the particularities of a colonial society riven by nationalism, revolution, and uneven modernization? The

Alexis Wolf, "Transnational Women Writers in the Wilmot Coterie, 1798-1840" (Boydell Press, 2024)

Feb 03 2025 38 mins  
What were two Irish sisters doing in Russia during the early years of the nineteenth century, editing the French-language memoirs of a princess who had been a close confidante of Catherine the Great? Author Alexis Wolf is in conversation with Duncan McCargo about a remarkable transnational story she has unearthed through meticulous archival research. Transnational Women Writers in

David Mckinney, "Samuel Beckett and Recent Irish Fiction: A Comparative Study" (Routledge, 2025)

Jan 23 2025 60 mins  
Samuel Beckett and Recent Irish Fiction: A Comparative Study (Routledge, 2025) considers Samuel Beckett's fiction and drama as major aesthetic and thematic influences on the work of Irish authors Eimear McBride, Keith Ridgway, Emma Donoghue, and Kevin Barry in the post-crash period of 2009-2015. Through cross-comparisons between the aesthetics and form of Beckett's Trilogy, Mercier

Stephen Watt, "From the 'Troubles' to Trumpism: Ireland and America, 1960-2023" (Anthem Press, 2024)

Jan 15 2025 51 mins  
Stephen Watt is the Provost Professor of English at Indiana University. His research interests include drama and theatre of the 19th and 20th centuries, Irish Studies, and the contemporary university and his recent works include Bernard Shaw’s Fiction, Material Psychology, and Affect: Shaw, Freud, Simmel (2018), “Something Dreadful and Grand”: American Literature and the Iris

Ciaran O'Neill, "Power and Powerlessness in Union Ireland: Life in a Palliative State" (Oxford UP, 2024)

Jan 12 2025 29 mins  
Ciaran O’Neill is the Ussher Associate Professor in Nineteenth-Century History at Trinity College Dublin. His work mainly focuses on the social and cultural history of Ireland and empire, the history of education and elites, colonial legacies, modern literature, and public history. In this interview, he discusses Power and Powerlessness in Union Ireland: Life in a Palliative Stat

Giovanna Ceserani, "A World Made by Traval: A Digital Grand Tour" (Stanford UP, 2024)

Dec 27 2024 46 mins  
In the eighteenth century, tens of thousands of travelers journeyed to Italy on the Grand Tour. These travels in the age of Enlightenment contributed to a massive reimagining of politics and the arts, of the market for culture, and of ideas about education and leisure. A World Made by Traval: A Digital Grand Tour (Stanford UP, 2024) combines —in dynamic format— original researc

Maurice Casey, "Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism's Forgotten Radicals" (Footnote Press, 2024)

Dec 23 2024 39 mins  
Sexy young revolutionaries, a queer romance, and international communism--what more could you ask for?! In his brilliant new book, Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals (Footnote Press, 2024), Maurice Casey delivers up an intriguing story of friendship, love, and revolution in a story spanning decades and continents. Following May O’Callaghan, an Iris