Advertising, Literature and Print Culture in Ireland, 1891-1922 - by J Strachan & C Nally (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book emerges from "Consumer Culture, Advertising, and Literature in Ireland 1848-1921," a Leverhulme Major Research Project ... funded by the Trust between 2008 and 2011 ... a joint venture between the universities of Durham and Sunderland"--P.

Book Synopsis

This is the first study of the cultural meanings of advertising in the Irish Revival period. John Strachan and Claire Nally shed new light on advanced nationalism in Ireland before and immediately after the Easter Rising of 1916, while also addressing how the wider politics of Ireland, from the Irish Parliamentary Party to anti-Home Rule unionism, resonated through contemporary advertising copy. The book examines the manner in which some of the key authors of the Revival, notably Oscar Wilde and W. B. Yeats, reacted to advertising and to the consumer culture around them. Illustrated with over 60 fascinating contemporary advertising images, this book addresses a diverse and intriguing range of Irish advertising: the pages of An Claidheamh Soluis under Patrick Pearse's editorship, the selling of the Ulster Volunteer Force, the advertising columns of The Lady of the House, the marketing of the sports of the Gaelic Athletic Association, the use of Irish Party politicians in First World War recruitment campaigns, the commemorative paraphernalia surrounding the centenary of the 1798 United Irishmen uprising, and the relationship of Murphy's stout with the British military, Sinn Féin and the Irish Free State.

Review Quotes

"Scholars from a number of disciplines will find this volume ... filled with stimulating discussions regarding the emergence and development of Irish commodity and consumer culture(s). ... this study is a very welcome and timely contribution to critical enquiries concerning Ireland's commercial, consumer and popular culture(s). ... As such this collection will be of interest to researchers and students of consumer and commercial culture(s). Irish art, history and literature; it is a worthy beginning to an emerging field of research." (Robert Finnigan, Nordic Irish Studies, Vol. 13 (2), 2015)

'This adventurous study of literary-mercantile relations in pre-independence Ireland makes a fresh and distinctive contribution to our understanding of Revival-era culture. The authors' skilful explication of the structural mechanics, cultural meanings and political resonances of advertising invites us to reconsider the interrelations between history, literature and consumer culture from a street-level perspective. Thoroughly researched and splendidly documented, this book will be a valuable resource for students, teachers and researchers alike.' - Liam Harte, University of Manchester, UK

'A must read. The book offers an authoritative account of the ways in which commercial information came to resonate with cultural meanings in the context of the Literary Revival, and will inspire Irish Studies scholars to think more fully about the connections between literary artefacts, print culture, visuality and economics. Fresh and compelling.'

- Claire Connolly, University College Cork, Ireland

"Anyone interested in the history or culture of Ireland in this period will find much to engage them in this thought-provoking volume." - CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections newsletter

About the Author

JOHN STRACHAN is Professor of English Literature at the University of Northumbria, UK. His books include Advertising and Satirical Culture in the Romantic Period (2007) and, with Alison O'Malley-Younger, Ireland at War and Peace (2011). He is Associate Editor of the Oxford Companion to English Literature and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
CLAIRE NALLY is Lecturer in Twentieth-Century English Literature at the University of Northumbria, UK. Her published work includes W.B. Yeats's Occult Nationalism (2009); Naked Exhibitionism: Gender, Performance and Public Exposure, edited with Angela Smith (2012); and W.B. Yeats's A Vision: Explications and Contexts, edited with Matthew Gibson and Neil Mann (2012).