‘The Devil Era’: The Presence of Éamon de Valera in Three Novels by Kate O'Brien
Keyword(s):
This essay argues that Kate O'Brien's novels set in a contemporary Ireland engage directly with the political and public character of that society. O'Brien focusses her critique on Eamon de Valera, Taoiseach from 1932 on. Pray for the Wanderer (1938) directly responds to the 1937 Constitution and its relegation of women to the home. The Last of Summer (1943) is set just before World War Two and takes critical measure of the political and cultural isolationism dominant in Ireland by the end of the 1930s. In O'Brien's historical novel That Lady (1946), King Philip II of Spain is a thinly veiled portrait of de Valera, aging and conservative, confining the spirited woman who challenges him to incarceration within her home.
2018 ◽
Vol 40
(2)
◽
pp. 27-58
Keyword(s):
Keyword(s):
Keyword(s):
2021 ◽
Vol 2
(4)
◽
pp. p65
Keyword(s):
Keyword(s):
Keyword(s):
Keyword(s):
2004 ◽
Vol 24
(2)
◽
pp. 137-158
◽