MANY of the essays in this book, most of which have been written in the past ten years, could best be described as comprehensive surveys or over-views of various aspects of modern literature in Irish: for example, the work of Padraic O Conaire, Mairtin O Cadhain, Sean O Riordain, the literary tradition, the Gaelic League, and the work of a number of contemporary writers and poets.
Although there is a certain general agreement with neo-colonial theorists such as Albert Memmi, this kind of criticism depends on the cultural range of the critic, on reading in a wide range of disciplines and literatures, as Alan Titley rightly points out in his introduction. It tends to eschew theory, is innocently eclectic, and still basically neo-Kantian. No essay exemplifies this better than that mentioned by Titley in this very context, "Nota ar `A Mhic Bhig na gCleas'", which uses Greek concepts of love and a deep familiarity with the Irish poetic tradition to call in question Ruth Dudley Edwards's diagnosis of latent homosexuality in the work of Patrick Pearse.
This is well done, but of course, no reference is made to the Freudian concept of repression, or to the role of the unconscious in creative writing. This despite the fact that Denvir opens his book with the utterly Freudian statement "Briongloid easlain ata sa litriocht" (literature is a sick person's dream).
Theoretical or not, this comprehensive book has plenty of valuable and important insights: the degree to which Raiftearai bought into the sectarian politics of Daniel O'Connell; the identification of the female voice in medieval literature with the private, personal, and marginalised; the attitude to class of some Roman Catholic clergy at the turn of the century as being "the divinely constituted plan of society"; the practical "international" socialism of Padraic O Conaire; Pearse's and O Conaire's opposition to D.P. Moran's Irish-Ireland literature; etc. etc.
One of the great strengths of the book is the way literature is dealt with in an uncompromisingly social and historical context. There are well argued essays on the continuity of the literary tradition, and the essay "An Beal Beo", which discusses this important topic in relation to the popular poetry and song of Connemara is a marvellous piece of exposition.
However, not having a theory to guide him, Denvir relies on a number of basic - and largely romantic - assumptions: the concept of the "local organic community"; the idea of the poet expressing the mind or intentions of his people; the idea that until the modern period Irish literature was public, its poetry public poetry; the time-honoured "personal note". A thorough scrutiny of these concepts is long overdue.
That said, we cannot all be hare-brained deconstructionists. Progress in criticism, whatever about economics, demands a dialectic. There must be a place for the honest restatement of what is generally accepted in the literary discourse, for that which both Denvir and Titley would see as the "commonsense" point of view. In this respect, these essays are to be recommended. They are extremely instructive and for the person who may be bemused by the mass and complexity of modern literature in Irish, they give a very solid and dependable pied a terre from which to tour the territory.
Finally, an aspect of the book which is surely worth mentioning: Denvir shows that while he, as a critic, is able to discuss Irish writing in English, writing in Irish, for all its relevance, rarely plays a role in the discussions of English Language critics or commentators. This only tends to confirm one's feeling - a feeling this book passionately exemplifies - that it is the Irish language critic, with or without a theory, who is the true pluralist.