As Irish republicans sought to rid the country of British rule and influence in the early 20th century, a clear delineation was made between what was "authentically" Irish and what was considered to be English influence. As a member of the Anglo-Irish elite who inhabited a precarious identity somewhere in between, R. M. Smyllie found himself having to navigate the painful experience of being made to feel an outsider in his own homeland. Smyllie's role as an influential editor of the Irish Times meant he had to confront most of the issues that defined the Irish experience, from Ireland's neutrality during World War II to the fraught cultural claims surrounding the Irish language and literary censorship. In this engaging consideration of a bombastic, outspoken, and conflicted man, Caleb Wood Richardson offers a way of seeing Smyllie as representative of the larger Anglo-Irish experience. Richardson explores Smyllie's experience in a German internment camp in World War I, his foreign correspondence work for the Irish Times at the Paris Peace Conference, and his guiding hand as an advocate for cultural and intellectualism. Smyllie had a direct influence on the careers of writers such as Patrick Kavanagh and Louis MacNeice, and his surprising decision to include an Irish-language column in the paper had an enormous impact on the career of novelist Flann O'Brien. Smyllie, like many of his class, felt a strong political connection to England at the same time as he had enduring cultural dedications to Ireland. How Smyllie and his generation navigated the collision of identities and allegiances helped to define what Ireland is today.

About the Author

Caleb Wood Richardson is Assistant Professor of History at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

Reviews

The writing in this short but superb thought-provoking book is sparkling.

* The Irish Catholic *

In another age when the slant of the news and the bias of the media generates global attention, added to an acceleration of purportedly progressive and anti-religious critiques among the intelligentsia, academia, and all who transmit thought made viral, Smyllie's Ireland offers a case study in how a newspaper in command of an influential elite has shaped a nation's fate.

* Reading Religion *

Smyllie's Ireland: Protestants, Independence, and the Man Who Ran the Irish Times describes the rich history of Irish Protestants who found themselves aliens in their own land. This book tells a different story about Irish Protestants by exploring their success instead of highlighting their failures.

-- Sara Seebaum * Communication Booknotes Quarterly *

This is a thoughtful, superbly researched and elegantly written study of one the most important pioneering Irish newspaper editors of the past 150 years, of his influence and his craft. It is also a timely reminder of the continuing importance of its journalism, warts and all, in the creation and maintenance of the kind of society we will, with luck, bequeath to the generations that follow us.

-- John Hogan * Journal of British Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253041234
Author Caleb Richardson
Format Hardback
Page Count 196
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press