George Russell (A.E.)

Dr. Richard M. Kain and Dr. James H. O'Brien

1976
90 pages
ISBN 0-8387-1206-1
Irish Writers Series

George Russell (A.E.) is another outstanding contribution to the Irish Writers Series. These monographs have been designed to treat in individual volumes the significant Anglo-Irish writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. These studies will prove helpful both to literary scholars and to students of literature. When complete the series will constitute a significant history of modern Anglo-Irish literature, and will encompass discussions of almost 40 writers.

George Russell (A.E.) (1867-1935) was the central presence of the Irish Revival. His astonishing versatility enabled him to express national and personal aspirations in poems and paintings, in essays, speeches, and political tracts. A visionary and mystic, out of his visions he later constructed his poems, paintings, philosophy, and his ambition to work for the spiritual rejuvenation of Ireland. He illuminated almost every aspect of life and in times of crisis served as the conscience of Ireland.

Though he treasured solitude, A.E. was a famous conversationalist-high praise in Dublin, a city where the spoken word is still regarded as an art form. Above all, he hoped to be remembered as a friend to poets.

Overshadowed today by Yeats and Joyce, he is in danger of being overlooked. Hence the need for a study by two scholars of the Irish scene, both of whom know Dublin very well.

About the authors:

Dr. Richard M. Kain is a Professor of English at the University of Louisville, and has published or lectured on Irish writers in Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, Lebanon, Nigeria, and the United States. Fabulous Voyager (1947) and Joyce: the Man, the Work, the Reputation (with Marvin Magalaner, 1956) are basic studies, now in paperback. With Robert Scholes he edited The Workshop of Daedalus (1965), a volume of Joyce sources, and he is the author of Dublin in the Age of W.B. Yeats and James Joyce (1962) and another volume in the Irish Writers Series.

Dr. James H. O'Brien is a Professor of English at Western Washington State College.