AV俱乐部

AV俱乐部 Professor Julia Wright spent two-and-a-half years editing A Companion to Irish Literature (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) 鈥� choosing contributors, overseeing revisions, fact-checking quotations and dates.

It鈥檚 a difficult job she was hand-picked for. 鈥淭he commissioning editor came to me,鈥� recounts Dr. Wright, Canada Research Chair in European Studies. 鈥淎nd asked if I wanted (the job).鈥� Having both published widely on Irish literature and co-edited four essay collections, Dr. Wright was a natural choice.

She said yes 鈥� but conditionally. 鈥淥nly if I could focus on literature before the 1900s鈥� 鈥� an underrepresented era, according to Dr. Wright. 鈥淭he dominance of Joyce and Yeats is such that people often don鈥檛 look beyond that鈥� Irish literary studies has tended to focus on writers associated with national independence. The writers before that either got forgotten because they were seen as peculiarly Irish or they got absorbed into the canon of British literature.鈥�

The publishers liked the idea, and Dr. Wright set to work. How does one begin to undertake such an enormous literary task? 鈥淚 started with a table of contents,鈥� says Dr. Wright. Once that was approved, Dr. Wright herself sought out people to write on the different areas covered 鈥� an unusual order of events, since 鈥淢ost of the collections I鈥檝e done have started by putting out a call for papers鈥� rather than inviting people to submit.鈥� However, 鈥渢here was a lot of enthusiasm 鈥� most of the people I contacted were happy to do it.鈥�

Dr. Wright鈥檚 work may be demanding, but that鈥檚 not to say that she doesn鈥檛 enjoy it. 鈥淥ne of the strange things about humanities鈥� is that our work tends to be very solitary. We sit and read books鈥� (it鈥檚) us alone in a corner reading, and us alone in a corner writing. What I like about editing is that I get to work with other scholars very closely.鈥� That鈥檚 only a blessing if the company鈥檚 good, but fortunately, 鈥淓very one of them was fantastic to work with鈥� I got to learn so much more about the field from working with them.鈥� Such as? 鈥淨ueer theory comes in in an early modern essay and an essay about a 21st century writer. There were connections across 500 years that I really wasn鈥檛 expecting.鈥�

Dr. Wright鈥檚 interest in Irish literature emerged from her studies of British Romantic writings. 鈥淎t the time, the books (on Irish literature) were very hard to find,鈥� Dr. Wright explains. She eventually discovered the key 鈥� to look at writings concerned with India. 鈥淲henever I found India in major Romantic fiction, I found Ireland鈥� 鈥� in Mary Shelley鈥檚 Frankenstein, for instance. 鈥淚t just became clear to me that something was going on. The connection turned out to be colonial rule.鈥�

Dr. Wright is proud that her collection will rectify the usual omission of Irish Romantic writers and includes 鈥渜uite a bit on the Gothic, which I鈥檓 very happy about鈥� there鈥檚 a lot more attention to the Gothic (generally), which used to be dismissed as sensationalistic hackwork.鈥� And what of the fame, the fortune, the glory that comes on working for so long on such an enormous undertaking? 鈥淚 have a flyer I can hand out at conferences,鈥� laughs Dr. Wright, 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 about it.鈥� Besides, 鈥淚鈥檝e got two more edited collections that I鈥檓 working on this summer.鈥�