Writers and Protestantism in the North of Ireland: heirs to a damnation?

Sloan, Barry (2000) Writers and Protestantism in the North of Ireland: heirs to a damnation? , Dublin, Republic of Ireland; Portland, USA. Irish Academic Press, 381pp.

Abstract

How did Protestantism influence the subject-matter and vision of 20th C writers from the North of Ireland? Was it a merely negative, inhibiting, backward-looking and self-defensive force within the community, as some observers have claimed? Theologically, politically and culturally, was it ever a source of creative energy and a stimulus to the literary imagination? These are some of the questions this book confronts. It begins by establishing theological and historical contexts for the development of Protestantism in Ulster, focusing on its Calvinistic origins, and exploring its formative influence on the culture of the province. Separate chapters deal with the poetry of WR Rodgers, John Hewitt, Louis MacNeice, Derek Mahon and Tom Paulin, while elsewhere autobiographies and essays by Forrest Reid, Robert Lynd, Denis Ireland, George Birmingham and Thomas Carnduff are considered. The book concludes with a critical discussion of the ways in which a number of novelists and dramatists have represented Protestant character, life and beliefs in a selection of their work.

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