Two Opposing Narratives?

Abstract

The 1980s were a landmark period for Irish women’s poetry, yet women poets were routinely excluded from the mainstream of Irish poetry production and reception. The publication of the Field Day Anthology I–III (1991) revealed with clarity the gendered dynamics of centre and periphery, with the inclusion of almost no contemporary Irish women writers in its 4,044 double-columned pages causing great controversy. The Field Day Anthology I–III was just one symptom of an inherently male-focused Irish literary tradition, however. With the backdrop of the 1980s Irish economic recession, this chapter will examine some of the networks and conversations surrounding Irish culture that preceded this publication to identify how such exclusion might occur. The Field Day Pamphlets (1983–88) and LIP Pamphlets (1989–92) will be employed to demonstrate how two opposing narratives existed within Irish culture during this period, one that sought to address the historic and contemporary exclusion of Irish women writers and another that continued to promote a male-focused literary tradition that positioned woman as passive object rather than an active creator. This dynamic will be used to illustrate how deep-rooted masculinist conservatism persisted within the authoritative structures and canon-forming institutions of the Irish literary community until as late as the 1990s.