Le Monde paysan chez O'Flaherty

Abstract

O'Flaherty's depiction of rural Ireland is examined in terms of time, of place, and through two of his works, a short story, «The Pedlar's Revenge» and a novel, «Land». The time chosen is that of the turn of the century when an Ireland died and an Ireland was re-born in a movement which was to lead to the first and only statute of political indépendance for one of the Celtic peoples. O'Flaherty's complex and ill-explored reaction to the spiritual matrix of the people of Irland is touched upon. This essay in understanding makes only one major claim, open-endedness.