The three volumes of this series offer a detailed history of how prose in the Irish language developed from the birth of the native state in 1922 to 1951. Making extensive use of contemporary newspapers, journals, personal papers, and other primary texts of all kinds - novels, short stories, plays, biographies - the books recreate the intellectual and ideological climate of the time with regard to the preservation and spread of Irish as a modern literary language. Separate chapters deal with such questions as the role of the native speaker in the creation of a contemporary literature, the importance of the Gaeltacht on rural subjects and themes, interpretations of Irish history, the literary potential of early Irish heroic literature and mythology, the value of translation into Irish, and the challenges of providing popular entertainment such as light reading, theatre and the cinema. Particular attention is paid to major literary works like those of Mairtin O'Cadhain, Liam O'Flathartaigh (O'Flaherty), and Brian O'Nuallain ('Myles na gCopaleen').
