From prosperity to austerity

This collection examines the Irish economic phenomenon of the Celtic Tiger and the financial disaster that came in its wake, from a socio-cultural perspective. It focuses on how these financial developments have been reflected in writing, film and culture in order to offer a more rounded analysis of the effects of this momentous period on peoples lives.

Employing a wide range of cultural lenses, the book critiques the cultural, political and aesthetic implications of the progression from prosperity to austerity and the impact this has had on the psyche of Irish culture. An eclectic mix of theoretical approaches enables treatment of religion, literature, popular culture, photography, gastronomy, music, gender, immigration and film, as contributors assess how the Celtic Tiger was represented, or misrepresented, in these particular spheres of experience.

In addition, the chapters also probe the effects on all of the aforementioned cultural forms, and interrogate how the lives of people have been transformed in ways that go beyond the already well-documented areas of economics and finance.

The book will be a valuable resource for academics and students interested in contemporary Ireland and recent Irish history, as well as the general reader anxious to understand the effects of this particular period on the real lives of people as expressed through culture. It features contributions by internationally acknowledged experts in their fields and offers a comprehensive overview of the cultural consequences of the Celtic Tiger and its aftermath.

Eamon Maher is Director of the National Centre for Franco-Irish Studies at the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, where he also lectures in Humanities

Eugene OBrien is Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of English Language and Literature at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick

Introduction Eamon Maher and Eugene OBrien
1. Crisis, what crisis? The Catholic Church during the Celtic Tiger Eamon Maher
2. The Celtic Tiger and the new Irish religious market Catherine Maignant
3. Shattered assumptions: a tale of two traumas Brendan OBrien
4.TendencyWit: the cultural unconscious of the Celtic Tiger in the writings of Paul Howard Eugene OBrien
5. Popular music and the Celtic Tiger Gerry Smyth
6. What does a woman want?: Irish contemporary womens fiction and the expression of desire in an era of plenty Sylvie Mikowski
7. Topographies of terror: photography and the post-Celtic Tiger landscape Justin Carville
8. Immigration and Celtic Tiger Bryan Fanning
9. What Rough Beast? Monsters of post-Celtic Tiger Ireland Kieran Keohane and Carmen Kuhling
10. Women, fictional messages and a crucial decade Mary Pierse
11. A hundred thousand welcomes: food and wine as cultural signifiers Brian Murphy
12. Contemporary Irish fiction and the Indirect Gaze Neil Murphy
13 Holes in the Ground: theatre as critic and conscience of Celtic Tiger Ireland Vic Merriman
14. Ship of Fools: The Celtic Tiger and poetry as social critique Eóin Flannery
15. Between modernity and marginality: Celtic Tiger cinema Ruth Barton
Conclusion
Index