The Irish Identity: Independence, History, and Literature

by Marc C. Connor

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ireland, Audiobook

Unknown Binding

Published July 22, 2016

Reviews

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

How did the Irish maintain and enrich their sense of identity under nearly a millennium of English occupation—an occupation that turned especially brutal in the seventeenth century and continued in that regard until independence in the twentieth century? Mark Connor seeks to answer that question through an intriguing combination of historical narrative and exploration of Irish poetry and literature. The result is a fascinating meander though the last couple of centuries of Irish history that can be both painful and inspiring. As a member of an Irish American family, it was especially interesting to fit little pieces of family lore (my great-grandfather was killed by the Black and Tans) into their historical context.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audio book, and it was free with a subscription. The best way to summarize this is to rename it. It would be more appropriately titled The Irish Identity through Literature. I can understand someone being disappointed that there's such focus on the great writers of Ireland, but it's clear early on that that is the scope this book will go with. It's an interesting angle, but not a great start into Irish history if you have no real prior knowledge.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The emphasis is mostly on the literature and how it connects to independence and history, so if you are looking for a detailed history about the Irish Independence movement, this isn't it.

It is, however, a great look at Irish literature. This aspect is wonderfully done and well worth listening to.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This course of 36 half hour lectures is an excellent and thorough introduction to Irish literature put in the context of Ireland’s recent history. Though it has taken me some time to watch the DVDs, and will take me even more time to read the literary works I have been introduced to, I have found Dr Marc C. Conner’s teaching highly accessible, interesting and educational. I particularly appreciated his objective American perspective, free from any particular Irish bias. A whole new world of classic literature has been opened up to me. I cannot recommend this course (and indeed all The Great Courses lecture series) highly enough.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This needs retitled to something along the lines of, "Irish Literature: Literature, Literature, Some History, and More Literature."

[Caeli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice snapshot of Irish history and culture from pre-Norman to Irish renaissance movement to modern times.

I started this book before traveling to Ireland for the first time ever and found it to be a nice little introduction to Irish identity. I didn’t finish it until after my travels because it was so long (>18 hr audiobook), but still read far enough ahead to make good use of my Irish knowledge while abroad. It was fun to recognize names and key events in Irish history while visiting important historical sites. :)

I will say that the first 1/3 or so of the book seemed to be more fast-paced/ easier to consume than the middle to latter half. It felt a little tedious at times with the focus on so many different authors and their works, as I expected it to center more on the major events of Irish history overall. Nevertheless, the author did a good job of making the lectures engaging and fun. It really did feel like I audited a college-level course on the Irish identity (which I loved, personally).

As a side note, I would definitely grab a Guinness with the author and listen to him talk more about Irish culture. He seems passionate and must be a cool prof as he has taken many a college student on a study abroad trip to Ireland!

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a very thorough & informative collection of lectures of how the cultural identity & political climate of late 19th to early 20th century Ireland shaped the literary renaissance that came out of it & vice-versa. That said, if you have no interest in any of those things coming in, this title is probably going to be pretty difficult to get through.
To head off any criticism, yes, I know this is not a book nor is it even technically an audiobook but the amount of time & effort I put into actively listening to this title was that of about 3-4 books of my usual fare so I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to write anything about it here.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very little history here. This was mostly literature. If you are looking for a 17 hour audiobook primarily about Irish lit, this may be for you. I listened to this at 2x-3x speed, and I still had to give up at ~60% and skip to the last couple of chapters. I have never read James Joyce, and now I don't have to because the author literally summarized all of his works. The author also included the proverbial Reader's Digest condensed version of a play that was controversial at the time.

[Marjo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it, it was good. This was mostly a series of lectures about James Joyce, WB Yates, their contemporaries and a bit of historical and cultural details for context, but I found it interesting. I had read reviews and I knew that this was more a literature course than a purely historical one, so my expectations were in the right place; that probably helped.

[George Noland II · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! This is the guidebook for the Teaching Company course, but it's a great outline of Irish history and literature. I purchase the course for the Irish history, but I enjoyed reading and learning about Irish literature just as much if not more. It's an impressive line up: Yeats, Lady Gregory, Shaw, Wilde, Synge, Joyce, O'Casey, Kavanaugh, and Heaney.

[Jim Rowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific overview of the connectedness of Irish culture, history, politics and r3ligion. Not surprising that the leader of the 1916 Independace revolt was a poet and school teacher. In most histories that would be an anomaly; in Ireland it was inevitable.

[Icyfarrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

我以为是历史课，结果是文学史课，虽然也讲了不少爱尔兰的各种文人，但大篇幅地在介绍作品和社会关系，历史反而是背景，对我来说重点偏了。主讲人读稿的感觉甚重，不像讲课，没有之前听的那些课那么自然。

[Ellen Baldwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's heavy on the literature part, which I was looking more for heavy history and independence of Ireland. It is nice that it is broken up into about 30 min sections.

[Kade · Rating 4 out of 5]

My goal is low-key to listen to all of the "Great Courses" available from my library and I've already got a few down. It's funny because they usually have these pretty broad, generic topic titles (eg. the New Testament, the Soviet Union, Ancient Greece...etc. ) and since they're not designated with a "college" or "course ID" you aren't ever totally sure what you're going to get (a course about "ancient Greece" that is taught by an archaeology professor will inevitably be different than one taught by a literature professor). In a University you might have a course called "Intro to Logic" in the philosophy, math, and computer departments, for example.

I feel like this course should probably be called Irish Literature: Identity, Independence, and History. It was definitely a literature course, taught by an English prof.

Don't get me wrong, I want to know EVERYTHING so I was glad to learn a bunch of detail about Irish authors and their specific works. But I'd think "okay we're done talking about James Joyce" and then two lectures later we'd get three more lectures about his next book.
I just got got to be kinda exhausted.
Like idk.
Tell me about kelpies.
Tell me about bog bodies.
Tell me about the Titanic.
What's up with Wales and Scotland?
We heard briefly about Jews in Ulysses, but that was it.
There was certainly more that could've been discussed in other areas.
Since I didn't know what I was getting into, I might've not picked this course at this particular moment IF I knew there was gonna be SO much wanky talk about poetry.

You definitely need to be in a certain mood for wanky poetry talk.

I don't think I was in that mood.

So mostly I finished this course thinking I could see myself punching both Yeats and Joyce in the face, although it varied throughout the series on which one I felt more strongly [negative] about.

That's probably just my aggressive Irish nature, tho.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but biased in favor of literature at the expense of social, economic and broader political factors. I listened to this on Audible, and the pronunciation was really irritating. Padraig Purse instead of Pearse etc.

[Philip Fitzell]

Overall, an excellent review of Irish history over the centuries. Author Connor captures the spirit of the Irish, especially with respect to their recent literature. His description of the plight of the Irish over English rule also is noteworthy. My only criticism is his lecture format, which from lecture to lecture was somewhat helpful (refreshing points in the previous lecture) but a bit too repetitious--delivered word for word, almost like an echo.