Life
Professor of English at Notre Dame University; managing editor of the
anthology Irish Literature, 10 vols. (NY 1904).
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Notes
Charles Welch, Foreword, Vol. I, Irish Literature (Washington 1904),
pp.xvii-xxiii, ‘Before Irishmen were forced to express themselves
in English they had a literature of which the wealth and the wonder have
been revealed in these later uears by Dr. Whitley Stokes, Dr Kuno Meyer,
Eugene O’Curry, John O’Donovan, Miss Eleanor Hull, Lady Gregory,
Dr Douglas Hyde, M. de Jubainville, and Professors Zimmer and Wundlich
and others too numerous to mention ... /After all, however, the great
bulk of Irish literature consists of the contributions of Irishmen and
Irishwomen to English literature. For the first time they are given their
due in this library, and Irish people themselves will be astonished to
find how the Irishmen and women who have written in the English language,
and never been credited with their work as Irish, but have ever been classified
under an alien name, have preserved an individuality, a distinctive characteristic,
a national spirit, a racial flavour, which entitle their work to a place
apart. (xviii); ‘always bright, always attractive, no acres of dryasdust
in ‘Irish Literature’; ‘Mr Justin McCarthy’s article
introductory takes the reader by the hand, as it were, and genially described
to him the flowery paths along which he may wander ... /Mr William Butler
Yeats, the accomplished orator and poety, who has left such a good impression
the hearts of all Irish-American people, deals with Modern Irish Poetry
(xxi); ‘The work of assembling the contents of this library is not
that of one man. It is the outcome of the combined wisdom, taste, literary
judgeent, and editorial skill of a group of the foremost living Irish
scholars and critics, as will be seen by the list of ladies and gentlemen
form the Editorial Board and Advisory Committee. First of all, the whole
field of Irish literature in the English language from the seventeenth
century down to our own day, including the works of translators from the
ancient Irish, was carefully surveyed, and a mass of material was collected
sufficient in quanityt for two or three such libraries as this. Lists
of these authors and of these examples of their work were then prepared
and forwarded to each member of the Committee of Selection, who subjected
these lists to a most careful and critical process of winnowing and weeding.
The results of their independent recensions wre then carefully brought
together, compared, and combined. A new list of authors and their works
based upon this was made, and this was in turn finally exmanined and passed
upon by the Editor in Chief Mr Justin McCarthy and the eminent critic,
Mr. Stephen Gwynn in personal conference. (xxiii); ‘[Special thanks
to] S. J. Richardson of The Gael who has placed at our disposal
the treasure of his Encl Hib. and materials for illustration. (xxv); ALSO,
‘A Glance at Ireland’s History’, Irish Literature,
Vol. IX, pp.vii-xii: ‘The intensity of Fenianism was one of the causes
that lead to the disestablishment of the Irish Church in 1869, and the
passing of the Irish Land Act in 170 ...’ (xi-xii); Various [other]
measures of relief affecting education and ownership of land have been
passed by the British Government since then [viz, Local Govt., Act. 1898],
but much remains yet to be done in this and other directions.’ [END.]
(Foreword, Vol. I, Irish Literature (1904), ‘[T]he Irish is the most readable literature in the world; it is entertaining, amusing, bright, sunny, poetical, tasteful, and it is written with an ease and fluency which have been the salt that has seasoned the whole body of English literature’ (xix); ‘[the anthology] focuses the whole intellectuality of the Irish people’ (idem.) Note that the term ‘intellectuality’ derives from Douglas Hude’s usage: ‘with her language she lost her intellectuality’ (cited in Nuala C. Johnson, ‘Making Space: Gaeltacht Policy and the Politics of Identity’, in Brian Graham, ed., Geography Bibliogrpahy, In Search of Ireland: A Cultural Geography of Ireland, Routledge 1997, 174-91, p.179; quoting from Ó hAilín, Irish Revival Movements’, in S. Ó Tuama, ed., The Gaelic League Idea, Mercier 1972, p.96.)
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)