Francis Stuart’s Black List, Section H (1971): An Irishman in Berlin, 1939-1945

Abstract

This paper summarises the fate of novelist Francis Stuart, who was initially close to the Celtic Revival, married Iseult Gonne and enrolled in the IRA in the Irish Civil War. After he reached some literary fame in the 1930s, in 1939 he was invited to give lectures in Germany and then to record radio programs meant to broadcast Nazi propaganda to neutral Ireland. Stuart related all these personal experiences in Black List, Section H, published in 1971. His activities in Germany during World War II were brought to broad daylight again in the 1980s and 1990s, causing fierce controversy in Ireland. This paper examines the reasons which may explain why a whole generation of Irish writers took sides with Stuart at the time, despite the evidence of his past involvement in the service of Nazi Germany, a commitment which transpires in Black List, Section H.