Writers With the Luck of the Irish
Graphic by Mia Stewart
For those more inclined to spend St. Patrick’s Day at home rather than in a pub, there are still ways to show your appreciation for Irish culture. Ireland has a rich literary history filled with wit, disillusionment, and an ardent love for its country. So for those who don’t feel like going out and drinking pints of Guinness until you pass out, honoring Irish authors is a fitting way to celebrate the holiday (and perhaps in a way that Saint Patrick may be more inclined to approve of).
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, better known as Oscar Wilde, is praised as one of the greatest authors of the Victorian era. From his Gothic horror novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” to comedic plays such as “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Wilde’s oeuvre has achieved broad literary success over the past 150 years.
In “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Basil Hallward creates a portrait of his muse, the novel’s titular character, to capture his incredible beauty. After Lord Henry Wotton, an associate of the two, emphatically declares that beauty is the only thing in life worth pursuing, Gray wishes that his portrait would age in his stead. His wish comes true, allowing Gray to pursue a hedonistic, reckless lifestyle without fear of how this will affect his physical appearance. The novel delves into themes such as society’s impact on individual morality, the expressions of sexuality, and the dangers of egotism, and it remains one of the most brilliant commentaries on 19th-century aestheticism.
Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker, another Gothic writer, is the author of “Dracula,” a horror novel that uniquely employs its epistolary form to build a creeping sense of dread, leaving the reader wondering whether another letter will arrive—or whether the writer will be killed. Because he is famously associated with Transylvania, the author’s actual country of origin may come as a shock. However, it is speculated that “Dracula” was inspired by such figures in Irish folklore as Abhartach, a chieftain who rose from his grave and demanded to drink the blood of others to sustain his unnatural life. “Dracula” is a novel that deals with numerous types of expression, including physical, sexual, and religious, reflecting inner turmoil within Ireland at the time.
Stoker’s close friendship with Oscar Wilde is also suspected to have influenced his writing of “Dracula.” He began writing the novel just one month after Wilde was arrested for indecency, an arrest related to his homosexuality. Although this correlation does not mean that Wilde’s arrest compelled Stoker to write “Dracula,” the inclusion of themes dealing with expressions of homosexuality seems reminiscent of Wilde’s life at the time.
Samuel Beckett
Although it would be easy to overlook that Bram Stoker was Irish, Samuel Beckett’s namesake bridge in Dublin serves as a constant reminder of the playwright’s roots. For his contributions to the theatre of the absurd, evident in his use of dark comedy and literary nonsense, Beckett received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. His most famous play, “Waiting for Godot,” is a bleak tragicomedy that illustrates the meaninglessness of life and the passage of time.
In “Waiting for Godot,” Vladimir and Estragon both wait for the arrival of the title character, who never appears on stage. Irish literary critic Vivian Mercer famously describes the two-act drama as “a play in which nothing happens, twice.” The minimalist setting, characterization, and dialogue within the play invite numerous social, political, and religious interpretations, ranging from viewing Godot as an allegory of the Cold War to a God-like figure. However, when Beckett himself was asked what the play was about, he reportedly replied: “It’s all symbiosis.”
James Joyce
Despite James Joyce famously setting many of his works in Dublin, the writer actually spent most of his adult life alternating between Zurich, Paris, and London, returning to Ireland only for brief periods. However, Joyce clearly held Dublin close to his heart. “For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal,” he explained.
This idea is especially prevalent within Joyce’s famously befuddling and complex novel “Ulysses.” The work seeks to capture an average Irishman’s heroic journey home—paralleling “The Odyssey”—within a singular day of Leopold Bloom as he navigates the streets of Dublin. Each book within the novel loosely draws inspiration from an event or character from the original epic, such as “Hades,” which deals with a funeral, and “Circe,” which depicts several characters’ hallucination-based transformations. The penultimate book is “Penelope,” containing only eight sentences as Molly Bloom, Leopold’s wife, expresses a whirlwind of thoughts and ultimately declares her loyalty to her husband.
William Butler Yeats
W. B. Yeats is perhaps one of the most politically dedicated Irish authors to his nation. Having served two terms as a Senator in the Irish Free State and having founded the Abbey Theatre, also known as the National Theatre of Ireland, Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival of the early 20th century.
Among Yeats’ most famous poems are “The Second Coming,” “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” “Easter, 1916,” “Sailing to Byzantium,” and “The Wild Swans at Coole.” His works capture a wide variety of themes, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923—less than one year after Ireland gained independence—for, according to the laureate committee, “his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.” Both by his contemporaries and recent critics, Yeats has been hailed as a bearer of Irish nationalism through an exploration of the association between art and politics.
Sean O’Casey
When John Casey became interested in Irish nationalism, he Gaelicized his name to “Seán Ó Cathasaigh,” later to be known as Sean O’Casey, in order to sound more Irish. His first accepted play, “The Shadow of a Gunman,” was performed at the Abbey Theatre in 1923 and was the first in O’Casey’s “Dublin Trilogy,” which also includes “Juno and the Paycock” and “The Plough and the Stars.”
Set during the Irish War of Independence, the Irish Civil War, and the 1916 Easter Rising, respectively, each of the three tragicomedy plays explores the impact of the Irish revolution on the working class through a bitter, sardonic lens. The final work in the trilogy was performed to a sold-out crowd at the Abbey Theatre. Despite this, the play’s content sparked riots. In response to these outbursts, Yeats publicly scorned the audience’s behavior. “Is this going to be a recurring celebration of Irish genius? Synge first and then O’Casey,” he proclaimed, referencing the riots in response to John Millington Synge’s “The Playboy of the Western World.”
Learning more about Ireland’s diverse yet entangled literary history makes it easier to understand why St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into what it is today. Starting riots at theatres, getting arrested for indecency, and changing your name because your original one does not sound Irish enough—these are all testaments to the Irish people. So even though Saint Patrick may not understand putting on a fake red beard and pub crawling to commemorate Irish history, I can almost guarantee that Oscar Wilde or Sean O’Casey would.
Eden Bridge-Hayes ’29 (edenbridgehayes@college.harvard.edu) is wearing her shamrock on her sleeve this St. Patrick’s Day.