Irish literature in Strasbourg: Celebrating 5 female Irish writers
Ireland is synonymous with great literature; Yeats, Heaney, Joyce, the list goes on, but many of our leading literary geniuses are lesser known to the wider public. Edna O’Brien, Molly Keane, Caroline O’Donoghue, Anne Enright and Eavan Boland are among some of the Irish women who have had an impact on literature both at home and globally.
Each have had a lasting impact on Irish literature but have also created profound connections within the French literature world. To celebrate these connections the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg held a cross-border literary event with with the Rhine Valley Irish Association.
The Rhine Valley Irish Association
The Rhine Valley Irish Association has been the principal Irish community organisation in Strasbourg since 1994 and organises monthly music sessions, Irish language sessions, and book clubs. The association brings together Irish communities in this unique Franco-German area. Over 40 attendees gathered for the largest book club yet and participants were French, German and Irish.
The literary festival was spent honouring the strengths and inspirations of 5 Irish female writers, and the novels which have impact our literary culture for decades.
Meet the writers
Saints and Sinners
Edna O'Brien
Saints and Sinners (2011) is a collection of eleven short stories by Edna O’Brien exploring themes of love, loss, exile, and the complexities of the human heart across Ireland, London, and New York.
The stories, often focusing on flawed, searching characters, delve into the emotional lives of women, Irish labourers, and the lasting impact of memory, intimacy, and class.
Good Behaviour
Molly Keane
Good Behaviour (1981) by Molly Keane is a dark, witty novel exploring the decay of the Anglo-Irish landed gentry through the eyes of Aroon St. Charles, a lonely, unloved woman. Narrated by the naive, deluded Aroon, the story unfolds at "Temple Alice" as she recalls her childhood, uncovering themes of suppressed passion, cruelty, and the rigid, suffocating social codes that lead to a shocking, polite murder.
The Historians
Eavan Boland
The Historians (2020) is the final, posthumous poetry collection by acclaimed Irish poet Eavan Boland, which won the 2020 Costa Poetry Award. The volume acts as a culmination of her lifelong dedication to examining Irish history, memory, and the often-erased stories of women's lives.
One seminal moment from the event was during the group discussion on Eavan Boland, which was led by Irish local Noel Purcell and Yann Tholoniat a Professor of Irish Literature and Arts at the Université de Lorraine, Mr Tholoniat remarked:
“Redefined” is the last word of the volume ‘The Historians’, and this word neatly encapsulates Boland’s poetic conception of a performative language engaged in refining the world, thanks to women’s creative actions within history. Historians, take note.
The Rachel Incident
Caroline O'Donoghue
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue is a witty, chaotic coming-of-age story set in 2010s Cork, Ireland, during the financial crash.
It follows university student Rachel Murray and her gay best friend/roommate, James Devlin, as they navigate tumultuous friendships, misguided romantic pursuits, and the dramatic, complicated fallout of their obsession with Rachel’s married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne.
The Gathering
Anne Enright
Anne Enright’s 2007 Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The Gathering, is a haunting, fragmented family drama focused on 39-year-old Veronica Hegarty, who gathers with her siblings in Dublin for the wake of her brother Liam, an alcoholic who drowned himself in Brighton.
The narrative explores themes of memory, trauma, and repressed sexuality across generations, as Veronica investigates a childhood incident in 1968 that ruined Liam's life.