The top 10: Irish writers at their best

 

8. “Castle Rackrent” by Maria Edgeworth

This first-ever historical novel from 1800 savagely attacked the same landlord class, which Edgeworth was a member of, for their viciousness to their poor Irish tenants.

A Baptist preacher Robert Hall said, "I should class her books as among the most irreligious I have ever read ... she does not attack religion, nor inveigh against it, but makes it appear unnecessary by exhibiting perfect virtue without it ... No works ever produced so bad an effect on my mind as hers."

Best lines:

Speaking of the grand lady of the house at Castle Rackrent, Edgeworth wrote: “She was a strict observer, for self and servants, of Lent, and all fast-days, but not holidays. One of the maids having fainted three times the last day of Lent, to keep soul and body together, we put a morsel of roast beef into her mouth, which came from Sir Murtagh's dinner, who never fasted, not he; but somehow or other it unfortunately reached my lady's ears, and the priest of the parish had a complaint made of it the next day, and the poor girl was forced, as soon as she could walk, to do penance for it, before she could get any peace or absolution, in the house or out of it.”

9. “Guest of the Nation” by Frank O’Connor

A wonderful short story where O’Connor tells the tale of two English soldiers held hostage during the War of Independence who grow very close to their captors. Eventually they are shot dead in retaliation but the brave and glorified violence of the war suddenly doesn’t seem so heroic any more.

Best lines:

“I stood at the door, watching the stars and listening to the shrieking of the birds dying out over the bogs. It is so strange what you feel at times like that that you can't describe it. Noble says he saw everything ten times the size, as though there were nothing in the whole world but that little patch of bog with the two Englishmen stiffening into it, but with me it was as if the patch of bog where the Englishmen were was a million miles away, and even Noble and the old woman, mumbling behind me, and the birds and the bloody stars were all far away, and I was somehow very small and very lost and lonely like a child astray in the snow. And anything that hap­pened to me afterwards, I never felt the same about again.”

 

10. “Dancing at Lughnasa” by Brian Friel

Written by Ireland’s greatest playwright, “Dancing at Lughnasa” uncovers the pagan madness and id underneath the heavily censored, sternly imposed morals of Irish life. The five Mundy sisters, some seeking to overthrow their constraints, were a triumph on Broadway and it still remains one of the greatest plays today though Meryl Streep gave her worst-ever acting performance in the movie version.

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Nster.com