 First US edition (publ. Little, Brown, 1951) | |
| Author | Liam O'Flaherty |
|---|---|
| Subject | Easter Rising |
| Set in | Dublin |
| Published | 1950 |
Insurrection is a 1950 novel by the Irish novelist Liam O'Flaherty. The story takes place during the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916. [1]
The novel follows a diverse group of characters who are caught up in the events of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. The group are dispatched to defend the main road from Dublin to Dún Laoghaire (Dublin's main port) from the expected arrival of British reinforcements. The novel explores each man's motivations, fears and hopes through the battles and violence which ensue. The principal characters are: The uneducated, slow-witted Bartly Madden; Kinsella, the disciplined commander of a small band of insurgents; Stapleton, an anarchist and would-be poet; and Tommy Colgan, a youth consumed by fear and self-doubt. [2] [3]
Insurrection received generally positive reviews, although it was compared unfavourably to some of O'Flaherty's other work, such as The Informer and Famine . Kirkus Reviews described it as "A vigorous, penetrating study of organized rebellion beside which the Hemingway revolutionists are very cold potatoes." [4] Writing in The Saturday Review , a U.S. literary magazine, Thomas Sugrue said, "Like the rebellion itself, the book is brief, sharp, blazing with action and lit by a radiance of idealism which softens the ugly reality with which it deals, while at the same time illuminating the ugliest of its details. It may well be the best thing O'Flaherty has done." [3] The Irish monthly literary publication The Bell (1940–54) was more reserved: its (anonymous) reviewer said, "It might be said that only readers who know nothing of about Easter Week could get the best value out of Insurrection. But will even such readers take as a matter of course those brief passages in which Mr. O'Flaherty attempts to find philosophical meaning for the desperate act of violence by lifting particular events from the plane on which they have vividness at least to a plane where they are coloured clouds of abstraction?" [5] John Hildebidle, in Five Irish Writers, was equally lukewarm. "In trying to make fiction out of what amounts to a theory of revolutionary history," Hildebidle wrote, "he [O'Flaherty] produces characters with none of the persuasive energy and substance of his earlier novels". [2] The literary review website Goodreads gave Insurrection a 3.67 out of 5 rating.
The Easter Rising, also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an independent Irish Republic while the United Kingdom was fighting the First World War. It was the most significant uprising in Ireland since the rebellion of 1798 and the first armed conflict of the Irish revolutionary period. Sixteen of the Rising's leaders were executed from May 1916. The nature of the executions, and subsequent political developments, ultimately contributed to an increase in popular support for Irish independence.
John MacBride was an Irish republican and military leader. He was executed by the British government for his participation in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin.
Joseph Mary Plunkett was an Irish nationalist, republican, poet, journalist, revolutionary and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. Joseph Mary Plunkett married Grace Gifford in 1916, seven hours before his execution.
Blánaid Salkeld was an Irish poet, dramatist, actor, and publisher, whose well-known literary salon was attended by, among others, Patrick Kavanagh and Flann O'Brien.
Michael O'Hanrahan was an Irish rebel who was executed for his active role in the 1916 Easter Rising.
Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, a signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and Commandant of the 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers, which fought in Jacob's biscuit factory. He was executed for his part in the Rising at the age of thirty-eight.
The Irish Citizen Army, or ICA, was a small paramilitary group of trained trade union volunteers from the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) established in Dublin for the defence of workers' demonstrations from the Dublin Metropolitan Police. It was formed by James Larkin, James Connolly and Jack White on 23 November 1913. Other prominent members included Seán O'Casey, Constance Markievicz, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, P. T. Daly and Kit Poole. In 1916, it took part in the Easter Rising, an armed insurrection aimed at ending British rule in Ireland.
Liam O'Flaherty was an Irish novelist and short-story writer, and one of the foremost socialist writers in the first part of the 20th century, writing about the common people's experience and from their perspective.
Events from the year 1916 in Ireland.
The Red and the Green is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1965, it was her ninth novel. It is set in Dublin during the week leading up to the Easter Rising of 1916, and is her only historical novel. Its characters are members of a complexly inter-related Anglo-Irish family who differ in their religious affiliations and in their views on the relations between England and Ireland.
Ireland To-day was a literary magazine that ran from June 1936 to March 1938. It was edited by Jim O'Donovan and published work by many emerging and established Irish writers of the time, including Brian Coffey, Daniel Corkery, Frank O'Connor Denis Devlin, Michael McLaverty, Ewart Milne, Seán Ó Faoláin, Liam O'Flaherty, and Mervyn Wall. Aloys Fleischmann wrote articles on Irish music in the magazine.
The Garden of Remembrance is a memorial garden in Dublin dedicated to the memory of "all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish Freedom". It is located in the northern fifth of the former Rotunda Gardens in Parnell Square, a Georgian square at the northern end of O'Connell Street. The garden was opened by Eamon de Valera during the semicentennial of the Easter Rising in 1966.
Tomás Bairéad (1893–1973) was an Irish author and nationalist. Born in Galway, his father was called Michael Barrett and his mother Mary McDonough. He had two sisters and one brother. He was a member of the Moycullen group of the Irish Volunteers in 1916 and soon after became an IRA volunteer. He was also a member of the IRB and Sinn Féin. He was part of a group of Volunteers who were involved in the burning of the RIC Barracks in Rosmuc in 1920. He began his journalistic career with the Galway Express, a weekly republican paper. In 1922 he joined the Irish Independent, writing on politics, and would later become the newspaper's editor in 1945. While working for the Independent he was presented the Irish Academy of Letters Award (1938). Bairéad also invented his own Irish shorthand. His close friend, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, urged him to leave the IRA to focus on his writings.
Seán McGarry was a 20th-century Irish nationalist and politician. A longtime senior member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), he served as its president from May 1917 until May 1918 when he was one of a number of nationalist leaders arrested for his alleged involvement in the so-called German Plot.
Elizabeth O'Farrell was an Irish nurse, republican and member of Cumann na mBan, best known for delivering the surrender in the Easter Rising of 1916.
Frank J. Hugh O'Donnell was an Irish critic, playwright and politician.
George Oliver Plunkett, known to his contemporaries as Seoirse Plunkett, was a militant Irish republican. He was sentenced to death with his elder brother Joseph Plunkett and his younger brother John after the 1916 Easter Rising, but George's and John's sentences were commuted. He was released in 1917, fought in the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War, and was briefly IRA Chief of Staff during World War II.
Rebellion is a 2016 historical drama television serial written and created by Colin Teevan for RTÉ. The series is a dramatisation of the events surrounding the 1916 Easter Rising. The story is told through the perspective of a group of fictional characters who live through the political events. The series was produced to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. The ensemble cast includes Charlie Murphy, Ruth Bradley, Sarah Greene, Brian Gleeson, Niamh Cusack, Michelle Fairley and Ian McElhinney.
Insurrection is an Irish docudrama written by Hugh Leonard and directed by Michael Garvey and Louis Lentin. It was first broadcast on Telefís Éireann in Ireland on 10 April 1966 and later on the BBC in the United Kingdom, ABC in Australia and several other European countries. Only one series of eight episodes was made, with each episode broadcast on consecutive nights. The series was repeated only once when, on 1 May 1966, it was shown in its entirety.
The Radical Club was formed in Dublin, Ireland in the 1925 by Liam O'Flaherty. The group held meetings and exhibitions, and ceased activity by 1930.
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