A History of Irish Literature and the Environment

From Gaelic annals and medieval poetry to contemporary Irish literature A History of Irish Literature and the Environment examines the connections between the Irish environment and Irish literary culture. Themes such as Ireland''s island ecology the ecological history of colonial-era plantation and deforestation the Great Famine cultural attitudes towards animals and towards the land the postcolonial politics of food and energy generation and the Covid-19 pandemic - this book shows how these factors determine not only a history of the Irish environment but also provide fresh perspectives from which to understand and analyze Irish literature. An international team of contributors provides a comprehensive analysis of Irish literature to show how the literary has always been deeply engaged with environmental questions in Ireland a crucial new perspective in an age of climate crisis. A History of Irish Literature and the Environment reveals the socio-cultural racial and gendered aspects embedded in questions of the Irish environment.