The concepts of Ireland and 'Irishness' are in constant flux in the wake of an ever-increasing reappraisal of the notion of cultural and national specificity in a world assailed from all angles by the forces of globalisation and uniformity. interrogates Ireland's past and present and suggests possibilities for the future by looking at Ireland's literature, culture and history and subjecting them to the most up-to-date critical appraisals associated with sociology, literary theory, historiography, political science and theology.

This volume explores inter-artistic connections in Irish literature, drama, film and the visual arts. It looks at how writers such as Seamus Heaney, John Banville and W.B. Yeats have responded to the visual arts, as well as discussing Brian Friel’s drama, James Barry’s Shakespeare paintings and contemporary Irish film and visual arts.

A key event in Irish cultural memory, the Great Famine still crops up regularly in public discourse within Ireland and among the Irish diaspora. This volume, containing essays by distinguished scholars such as Peter Gray, Margaret Kelleher and Chris Morash, offers new and multidisciplinary perspectives on the Famine.