Introduction: Women writing work

Darling, Orlaith; Harrison, Liam; Houston, Dearbhaile

Abstract

“I have always been of the opinion that hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing better to do.”Footnote1 So wrote Oscar Wilde, in his characteristically glib and stylish manner. The idea of a world without work might well jar with our contemporary minds, as indeed it might have with the working classes of Wilde’s own times. Recent world events have put conventional forms of work under strain as well as highlighting forms of work we might previously have taken for granted. We might detect a distorted echo of Wilde in the title story of Nicole Flattery’s Show Them a Good Time (2019), which depicts an unpaid job placement scheme at a garage in rural Ireland. It opens with the lines: “The schemes were for people with plenty of time, or people not totally unfamiliar with being treated like shit. I was intimate with both situations.”Footnote2 In this special issue, we seek to consider a variety of representations of work across recent Irish writing, spanning Wilde’s world without work and Flattery’s sense of worthless work while also highlighting Irish writing which moves away from traditional understandings of work, challenging and troubling them.

• Journal Article Type: Editorial
• Acceptance Date: Nov 30, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jan 11, 2023
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 17, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 12, 2024
• Journal: Irish Studies Review
• Print ISSN: 0967-0882
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9303
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-15
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09670882.2023.2163742
• Keywords: Literature and Literary Theory; Sociology and Political Science; History; Cultural Studies
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10360025
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09670882.2023.2163742
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=cisr20; Published: 2023-01-11