Irish Animal Poetics

Irish Animal Poetics is an interdisciplinary edited collection of essays focused on the representation of relationships between the human and the non-human within Irish literary and cultural histories.

Drawing on the field of Environmental Humanities, this book traces a constellation of fictional, nonfictional, and poetic genres, advancing diverse yet mutually informative readings of their forms, contents, and context. While its emerging themes revolve around climate change, habitat devastation and exhausting resource extraction, the contributors move beyond general ecocriticism by incorporating sensibilities from Animal Studies as well as broader reflections on human-non-human dynamics. Under Flanney and O’Brien’s careful editorship, this volume offers a historical coverage spanning from the medieval period up to contemporary Irish culture and society, providing original and nuanced readings of Irish cultural texts and personalities.

This book is an ideal resource for postgraduates and academics studying and researching English, Irish and Cultural Studies, particularly through the lens of Animal Studies or, more broadly, ecotheoretical perspectives.