13 Key Irish Writers from Swift to Tóibín
TheCollector profiles 13 influential Irish writers, spanning from Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) to contemporary novelist Colm Tóibín. The list includes canonical figures Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, and James Joyce, as well as lesser-known but significant authors such as Lord Dunsany, Flann O'Brien, and Elizabeth Bowen. Each entry highlights the writer's major works, thematic concerns, and relationship to Irish identity and the English language. The article notes that many of these writers, including Wilde, Joyce, and Samuel Beckett, produced their most famous works outside Ireland, while others like Roddy Doyle and Flann O'Brien remained in the country. Key works mentioned include Swift's "A Modest Proposal" (1729) and "Gulliver's Travels" (1726), Joyce's "Ulysses" (1922) and "Finnegans Wake" (1939), and Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" (1953). The piece also covers the Big House novel tradition, the Abbey Theatre, and the influence of Irish nationalism and folklore on literature.
Key facts
- The article profiles 13 Irish writers from the 18th to 21st centuries.
- Jonathan Swift wrote 'A Modest Proposal' (1729) and 'Gulliver's Travels' (1726).
- Oscar Wilde was arrested for 'gross indecency' in 1895.
- W.B. Yeats co-founded the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.
- James Joyce's 'Ulysses' was published in 1922.
- Samuel Beckett wrote 'Waiting for Godot' (premiered 1953) in French.
- Roddy Doyle won the Booker Prize in 1993 for 'Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha'.
- Colm Tóibín's 'Brooklyn' (2009) was adapted into a film in 2015.
Entities
Artists
- Oscar Wilde
- W.B. Yeats
- James Joyce
- Jonathan Swift
- Maria Edgeworth
- Lord Dunsany
- J.M. Synge
- Elizabeth Bowen
- Flann O'Brien
- Samuel Beckett
- Iris Murdoch
- Roddy Doyle
- Colm Tóibín
- Napoleon Sarony
- Augustus John
- Adolf Hoffmeister
- Paul Fourdrinier
- John Butler Yeats
- Micheál Ó Nualláin
- Tom Phillips
- Patrick Bolger
- Larry D. Moore
- Speranza
- Lady Gregory
- Edward Martyn
- Graham Greene
- Anthony Burgess
- Philippa Foot
- Simone de Beauvoir
- Ernst Cassirer
- Eduard Fraenkel
- Isaiah Berlin
- Henry James
- Thomas Mann
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Arthur C. Clarke
- Ursula K. Le Guin
- H.P. Lovecraft
- Jorge Luis Borges
- Guillermo del Toro
- Sir Walter Scott
- Jane Austen
- Virginia Woolf
- Nancy Mitford
- George Bernard Shaw
- Homer
Institutions
- TheCollector
- Abbey Theatre
- Irish Literary Theatre
- St. Patrick's Cathedral
- Edgeworthstown
- Dunsany Castle
- Bowen's Court
- Hugh Lane Gallery
- National Portrait Gallery, London
- National Galleries of Scotland
- Trinity College Dublin
- University of Texas
- Ransom Center Magazine
- Whyte's, Dublin
- Edicions Poncianes
- The Telegraph
- Wikimedia Commons
- Library of Congress
- Texas Book Festival
- Booker Prize
Locations
- Ireland
- Britain
- England
- Dublin
- London
- Paris
- Zurich
- County Longford
- County Meath
- County Cork
- County Mayo
- County Wexford
- Aran Islands
- Galway
- Germany
- Italy
- France
- Oxford
- Barcelona
- America
- Edinburgh
- Washington DC
- Austin