Modern Ireland and Revolution: Ernie O'Malley in Context

In 1922, following a decade of political ferment and open bloodshed, the Irish Free State was established, became stabilised, and developed along conservative lines. During these years the prevailing impulse was to reprove the actions of republicans who had rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and many great revolutionary voices were left unheard. One mind, more agile than that of his contemporaries, belonged to Ernie O'Malley. It was through his vastly popular ‘clipped lyric’ memoirs that many of the complexities of the republican mind-set were brought to light for readers worldwide. In Modern Ireland and Revolution, leading Irish historians deliver critical essays that consider the life, writing and monumental influence of Ernie O'Malley, and the modern art that influenced him. After his involvement in the War of Independence and the Civil War, O'Malley developed modernist techniques and a cosmopolitan lifestyle; he was devoted to the arts, moved in circles that included Georgia O'Keeffe and D. H. Lawrence, and through his probing mind counteracted every notion that republicans of his era were dull, inflexible idealists. In this fascinating collection, art and revolution coincide, enriching every preconception of the minds that supported both sides of the Treaty, and revealing untoward truths about the Irish Free State’s process of remembrance.