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.

A broad survey of Irish literature's environmental focus, this book shows the significance of narratives in addressing the climate crisis.

About the Author
Malcolm Sen teaches in the Department of English at UMass Amherst. He is the author of Unnatural Disasters: Irish Literature, Climate Change and Sovereignty (2022). His research interests include the environmental humanities and postcolonial studies; he is especially interested in changing conceptions of sovereignty in the twenty-first century. Sen has published numerous articles and book chapters in these areas.


Book Information
ISBN 9781108490139
Author Malcolm Sen
Format Hardback
Page Count 454
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 790g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 158mm * 29mm