Northern Irish Literature, 1956-1975, Vol. 1 »

Michael Parker is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Central Lancashire.

Northern Irish Literature, 1956-2001 examines the contexts for literary production over the past fifty years, addressing the troubled intersections of literature, history and politics. Each chapter focuses on a particular period of the 'Troubles', and offers detailed readings of both canonical and less-known texts by writers from different traditions and generations. In contrast to existing studies which often consider a single author or genre, this book explores the diversity that is Northern Irish literature and emphasises how writers and texts engage with one another.

List of Maps     ix
List of Abbreviations     x
Acknowledgements     xii
Introduction to Volume 1     xv
Woven Figures: 1956-1965     1
A faltering script: Brookeborough's last years (1956-1963)     1
Over the Bridge
Rapprochement and reaction: O'Neill in the balance (1963-1965)     16
The Liberty Lad
Nationalist transitions (1958-1965)     37
'The Cry'
Reckonings: 1966-1969     58
The year of anniversaries (1966)     58
Cultural quickenings
Seamus Heaney's early political responses
Agitation: the civil rights campaign (1967-68)     72
'Old Derry Walls'
Conor Cruise O'Brien on civil disobedience
Descent: Burntollet and the fall of O'Neill (January-April-1969)     87
Street war (May-October 1969)     96
An Ulster Reckoning
James Simmons and The Honest Ulsterman
Forms of Redress: 1969-1972     115
The emergence of the Provisional IRA and the Falls Curfew (October 1969-July 1970)     115
'Credo Credo', 'The Kickers', 'The British Connection'
The prelude to internment and its aftermath (July 1970-December 1971)     123
Staging a response     140
The Flats
Poetry and crisis (1968-mid-January 1972)     154
The Planter and the Gael
'Gloss'
'A Severed Head' and'A Primal Gaeltacht'
Ecclesiastes and 'Poetry in Northern Ireland'
The Garryowen
Knowing My Plage
Wintering Out
Exposure: 1972-1975     182
Bloody Sunday, Bloody Friday (January-July 1972)     182
The Freedom of the City
'Wounds'
'Claudy'
Attempts at resolution (August 1972-September 1975)     214
Poetry and crisis (January 1972-September 1975)     222
'The Writers and the Troubles'
The Wearing of the Black
'An Unhealthy Intersection'
The Snow Party
North
Notes     252
Chronology     312
Maps     327
Bibliography     330
Contents Listing for Volume 2     342
Index     344