This book explores the differences between 'high' and 'low' cultures in an Irish context, arguing that these differences need constant redefinition. It examines the boundary between élite and popular culture using objects of study as various as canonical Irish literature, postcards, digital animation, surfing and the teaching of Irish mythology.

This book explores the differences between 'high' and 'low' cultures in an Irish context, arguing that these differences require constant revision and redefinition. The volume includes analysis of famous Irish writers such as Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, who are commonly regarded as part of the canon of elite Irish literature but who have either used elements of popular culture in their work, or else occupy a special position in popular culture themselves. Other chapters examine the elusiveness of the boundary between elite and popular culture using objects such as postcards, digital animation, surfing and the teaching of Irish mythology in schools, and demonstrating how this boundary is constantly renegotiated through subversion and parody or through the recycling of folk culture by state institutions. The book also explores the dichotomy between an 'authentic' Irish culture, as allegedly exemplified by Irish folklore, mythology, sport and theatre, all of which have been claimed as markers of national identity, and fabricated Irishness, designed to fit commercial or political purposes. The case of Ireland provides a rich and fascinating example of the debates which underlie the study of popular culture around the world today.

Autorentext

Sylvie Mikowski is Professor of Irish Studies at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France. Her main field of research is Irish contemporary fiction, particularly John McGahern, Roddy Doyle, Colum McCann and Sebastian Barry. She has also published on Irish women novelists and gender issues and on the history of the book in Ireland.

Inhalt

Contents: Darryl Jones: Dracula Goes to London - Sandra Mayer: The Importance of Commemorating Literary Celebrity: Oscar Wilde and Contemporary Literary Memorial Culture - Xavier Giudicelli: Dorian Gray in/and Popular Culture: Text, Image, Film - Claire Poinsot: 'Souls the like of ours/Are not precious to God as your soul is': Elite, Popular and Folk Culture in William Butler Yeats' Plays - Adrienne Janus: Listening High and Low: Yeats, Joyce, Beckett and the Condition of Music in Modernist Irish Literature - Yannick Bellenger-Morvan: C.S. Lewis: An Experiment in Popular Literature? - Kevin Wallace: 'Fintan O'Toole: Power Plays' and the High Art/Low Art Discourse in the Narrative of Irish Theatre - Chantal Dessaint-Payard: What Happened To Anna K? or the Dissemination of Cultures in Fox, Swallow, Scarecrow by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne - Frédéric Armao: The Folklore of Spring in Ireland: A Dichotomy of Traditions - Pádraic Frehan: National Self-Image: The Imagological Impact and Subsequent Contemporary Permeations of Celtic Mythology in Ireland's School Literature from 1924 - Valérie Morisson: From Hinde to Hillen: Postcards and the Issue of Authenticity in Popular Culture - Alexia Martin: The Carnsore Point Festival (1978-1981): Between Antinuclear Rally and Cultural Event - Stephen Boyd: Surfing a Postnationalist Wave: The Role of Surfing in Irish Popular Culture - Ruth Alexandra Moran: Please Say Something (2009): Digital Aesthetics and Popular Culture.