The living stream

Edna Longley's second collection of essays for Bloodaxe investigates the links between Irish literature (especially contemporary poetry), Irish culture and Irish politics. In her introduction, which includes a hard-hitting critique of The Field Day Anthology, Edna Longley argues that it's time for Irish literary criticism to adopt the "revisionist" approach that characterises the writing of Irish history, which would mean paying more attention to religious factors, to literary relations with Britain, and to the cultural diversity that underlies creative diversity. These ideas inform her consideration of such topics as: the historical imaginations of Northern Irish poets; Belfast in literature; Protestant writers after Irish Independence; the Thirties generation of Northern Irish writers; the influence of Louis MacNeice; aesthetic differences between poetry from the North and from the Republic. The book also contains a reflection on the 75th anniversary of the Easter Rising, and Edna Longley's controversial pamphlet From Cathleen to Anorexia: The Breakdown of Irelands.