The chapters in the volume examine the role of silence in poetry, fiction and drama by some of the most important writers from Ireland. Works by W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, Elizabeth Bowen, Flann O’Brien, Kate O’Brien, Samuel Beckett, Roddy Doyle and Brian Friel are discussed. Michael McAteer’s chapter on W. B. Yeats is particularly interesting for Hungarian readers, as he discusses a poem about the Hungarian Revolution 1848-1849 that Yeats published in his earliest poetry collection, “How Ferencz Renyi Kept Silent.” The theme of silence in modern Irish literature is discussed under four headings: 1) Psychologies of Silence; 2) Ethics of Silence; 3) Places of Silence; 4) Spirits of Silence. The volume includes chapters by literature scholars based at Universities in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, France, Germany, Hungary and Serbia. Among the contributors is Dr. Márta Péllerdi, Associate Professor of English in the Institute of English and American Studies, PPCU. Dr. Péllerdi’s chapter considers the theme of silence through a discussion of the influence of Ivan Turgénev on the Irish novelist and short-story writer, George Moore.
This edited volume originated from a two-day conference that Dr. McAteer organised at the Institute of English and American Studies, PPCU, in June 2014 to mark a new specialist stream in Irish Studies within the programme of the Department of English Literatures and Cultures. The conference was supported by the Irish Embassy of Hungary and the Irish-Hungarian Business Circle. It included a screening of the film Silence (Ireland/Germany, 2012; directed by Pat Collins) at Toldi Mozi, Budapest, with the support of the Irish Film Institute and Culture Ireland, based in Dublin. The conference also featured a special musical performance by Budapest flutist, Anna Rákóczy. Dr. McAteer was ably assisted by Kriszta Tátrai in making arrangements for all the events. He was also assisted by the following students of English at PPCU: Zsuzsanna Balázs, Bálázs Béri, Katalin Tekán, Ágnes Koncz, Krisztina Koncz, Dorottya Lányi and Angéla Sallai.
