Book contents
- Irish Literature in Transition, 1980–2020
- Irish Literature in Transition
- Irish Literature in Transition, 1980–2020
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Series Preface
- General Acknowledgements
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Times
- Part II Spaces
- Part III Forms of Experience
- Part IV Practices, Institutions, and Audiences
- Chapter 16 Mediation and Translation in Irish Language Literature
- Chapter 17 Irish Studies and Its Discontents
- Chapter 18 Historical Transitions in Ireland on Screen
- Chapter 19 Irish Blockbusters and Literary Stars at the End of the Millennium
- Chapter 20 Contemporary Literature and Public Value
- Coda: The Irish Times, Tramp Press, and the Future Present
- Index
Chapter 20 - Contemporary Literature and Public Value
from Part IV - Practices, Institutions, and Audiences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2020
- Irish Literature in Transition, 1980–2020
- Irish Literature in Transition
- Irish Literature in Transition, 1980–2020
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Series Preface
- General Acknowledgements
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Times
- Part II Spaces
- Part III Forms of Experience
- Part IV Practices, Institutions, and Audiences
- Chapter 16 Mediation and Translation in Irish Language Literature
- Chapter 17 Irish Studies and Its Discontents
- Chapter 18 Historical Transitions in Ireland on Screen
- Chapter 19 Irish Blockbusters and Literary Stars at the End of the Millennium
- Chapter 20 Contemporary Literature and Public Value
- Coda: The Irish Times, Tramp Press, and the Future Present
- Index
Summary
Over recent decades, government policy towards the arts in Ireland has awkwardly combined a commitment to expanding arts participation and audience engagement with the support and nurturing of creative talent; or, to put this tension less benignly, a desire for visible, quantifiable ‘output’ versus the inevitably jagged creative trajectories of individuals. This essay explores the discourse and debates concerning the public value of literature, and relatedly the practice of arts funding in Ireland, from 1980 to 2020. It focuses, in particular, on the role of the Arts Council of Ireland and the influence of related initiatives such as the Ireland Chair of Poetry and the Laureate for Irish Fiction over the period. And it examines a fault line of growing significance between public support for the arts as a form of social cohesion and a championing of the artist, or artists’ potential, as a disruptive force.
- Type
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- Information
- Irish Literature in Transition: 1980–2020 , pp. 375 - 391Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020