The Best Are Leaving

Clair Wills'S The Best Are Leaving Is An Important And Wide-Ranging Study Of Post-War Irish Emigrant Culture. Wills Analyses Representations Of Emigrants From Ireland And Of Irish Immigrants In Britain Across A Range Of Discourses Including Official Documents Sociological Texts Clerical Literature Journalism Drama Literary Fiction And Popular Literature And Film. This Book Written By A Leading Critic Of Irish Literature And Culture Discusses Topics Such As The Loss Of The Finest People From Rural Ireland And The Destruction Of Traditional Communities; The Anxieties Of Women Emigrants And Their Desire For The Benefits Of Modern Consumer Society; The Stereotype Of The Drunken Irishman; The Charming And Authentic Country Irish In The City; And The Ambiguous Meanings Of Irish Catholicism In England Which Was Viewed As Both A Threatening And Civilising Force. Wills Explores This Theme Of Emigration Through Writers As Diverse As M. J. Molloy John B. Keane Tom Murphy And Edna O'Brien.