The Comic Tradition in Irish Women Writers

In an examination of the prose and poetry of Irish women writers from the late 18th century through the present, these writers argue that a hidden tradition of women’s comedy has evolved side by side with the canonical comic tradition. They call for a revisionist reading of Ireland’s comic intellectual heritage - a reading from the perspectives of two genders - and demand a new kind of double optic - an interpretative frame of reference capable of grappling with difference. The collection should be of particular interest to Joyceans because it examines the influence of Joyce, who has been dismissed by many feminist critics as a pornographer and a champion of patriarchal privilege.