The best are leaving : emigration and post-war Irish culture / Clair Wills, Queen Mary, University of London.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wills, Clair, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Irish--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Irish.

Irish--Great Britain--Social conditions--20th century.

Great Britain--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.

Great Britain.

Ireland--Emigration and immigration--History.

Ireland.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 213 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Clair Wills's The Best Are Leaving is an important and wide-ranging study of post-war Irish emigrant culture. Wills analyses representations of emigrants from Ireland and of Irish immigrants in Britain across a range of discourses, including official documents, sociological texts, clerical literature, journalism, drama, literary fiction, and popular literature and film. This book, written by a leading critic of Irish literature and culture, discusses topics such as the loss of the finest people from rural Ireland and the destruction of traditional communities; the anxieties of women emigrants and their desire for the benefits of modern consumer society; the stereotype of the drunken Irishman; the charming and authentic country Irish in the city; and the ambiguous meanings of Irish Catholicism in England, which was viewed as both a threatening and civilising force. Wills explores this theme of emigration through writers as diverse as M. J. Molloy, John B. Keane, Tom Murphy, and Edna O'Brien.

Contents:

Cover; Half-title; Title page; Copyright information; Dedication; Table of contents; List of figures; Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction; Part I Emigrants; Chapter 1 The Best Are Leaving; 'The Survival of the Unfittest'; 'The Moral Aspect of the Problem'; 'The Weakening of Our Nationality'; 'Luxurious Living and Modern Sanitation'; Chapter 2 Pink Witch; Toothpaste and Cosmetics; Toffs and the Poorer Type of Girl; 'Love and Things'; Part II Immigrants; Chapter 3 British Paddies; Ethnography and the Irish Male Immigrant; Turning a Shade Darker; Chapter 4 The Vanishing Irish

The Deserving and the Undeserving PoorThe Bucklep; 'An Indefinably Natural Quality'; Chapter 5 Clay Is the Flesh; Afterword; Bibliography; Manuscripts; Television, Film and Radio; Newspapers, Journals and Magazines; Published Sources; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-316-12034-1

1-316-12143-7

1-316-13342-7

1-316-13233-1

1-316-13015-0

1-107-68087-5

1-316-13124-6

1-316-12797-4

1-316-12906-3

1-107-26137-6