Ibsen and the Irish Revival
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Ibsen and the Irish Revival Irina Ruppo Malone
Irina Ruppo Malone 2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-23199-3 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-31237-5 ISBN 978-0-230-27611-6 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230276116 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
To the memory of my father, Yuri Aleksandrovich Ruppo
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Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements ix x Introduction 1 1 Dublin s First Introduction to Ibsen: The Realist Plays 7 English controversy Irish reactions, 1889 93 7 An Enemy of the People and Irish politics, 1894 12 A Doll s House and the beginnings of the Irish Literary Theatre, 1897 18 2 Ibsen and the Early Abbey Tradition 25 Ibsen s early plays and the revival of Irish myths, 1899 1902 25 In the Shadow of the Glen and popular images of Ibsen, 1903 31 The inconsistent Ibsenism of W. B. Yeats, 1902 6 38 From Hedda Gabler to The Player Queen: the transformations of Yeats s attitude to dramatic realism, 1907 43 3 Irish Nationalism and the Ideology of Ibsen s Plays 51 Nationalist approaches to Ibsen, 1904 6 51 The Theatre of Ireland s Brand and the ideal of sacrifice, 1906 56 The rise of the realists and the myth of Ibsen s nationalism, 1908 12 63 4 Beyond Realism: the Reception of Ibsen s Symbolist Plays 77 Ducks and anchors in the sitting room 77 The Ibsen week, The Master Builder, T. C. Murray and Ghosts, 1908 10 80 The Metropolitan Players and Edward Martyn as interpreters of Ibsen, 1913 16 87 Ibsen in James Joyce s early fiction: Little Eyolf and An Encounter 97 vii
viii Contents 5 Ibsen out of Date? 109 A Doll s House and the Irish suffragists 109 Ghosts, An Enemy of the People and John Gabriel Borkman: conflicting responses, 1917 19 115 The Abbey entered: A Doll s House and The Plough and the Stars, 1923 28 124 6 A Farewell to the Revival and the Beginnings of Irish Modernism 140 Peer Gynt in Irish writing 140 Peer Gynt at the Peacock, 1928 32 147 The decade of the Button Moulder and the Norwegian Playboy 156 Epilogue: Dreams of Resurrection Ibsen and George Moore 166 Conclusion 174 Appendix: List of Performances of Ibsen s Plays in Dublin, 1894 28 179 Notes 180 Bibliography 207 Index 215
List of Figures 1 Aase s death. May Carey as Aase and Hilton Edwards in 150 Peer Gynt, Dublin Gate Theatre, 1928 or 1932. Photograph by Harry Braine. 2 Peer Gynt and the crowd, Dublin Gate Theatre 1928, 162 Design by Micheál MacLiammóir. Reproduced from Bulmer Hobson, The Gate Theatre Dublin. Dublin: The Gate Theatre, 1934. Courtesy of MacLiammóir Estate and the Gate Theatre. ix
Acknowledgements I would like to express my profound gratitude to Professor Adrian Frazier for scholarly advice, generous encouragement and constant support throughout my work on this book. I thank him for his kindness, wisdom, excellent guidance and, above all, for helping me develop my own voice as a scholar. I am particularly grateful to Professor Nicholas Grene who examined the doctoral thesis from which the present book has evolved. I am greatly indebted to Dr Ros Dixon, not only for reviewing several sections of this book, but also for being a source of inspiration and support. I thank Dr Patrick Lonergan and Dr Lionel Pilkington for insightful comments on the early drafts. I gratefully acknowledge the receipt of the NUI Galway Arts Faculty Fellowship and the funding received from the Irish Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. I wish to thank all the everyone in the English Department, NUI Galway. I am particularly grateful to Dr Riana O Dwyer and Professor Kevin Barry for their help and encouragement. Special thanks go to Irene O Malley and Dearbhla Mooney. I thank all the students whom it was my pleasure to teach during my postgraduate training at NUI Galway. At Palgrave Macmillan I would like to thank especially Christabel Scaife and Ruth Willats. My thanks go to Professor Miglena Ivanova for her generous advice at the early stage of the project and for many stimulating discussions since. I have benefited greatly from presenting my work at several workshops and conferences, and would like to thank Dr Nessa Cronin at the Department of Irish Studies, NUI Galway, the organisers of the New Voices Conference at NUI Maynooth (2006) and St Patrick s College Drumcondra (2007), the International Association for the Study of Irish Literature (IASIL), the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP), the International Ibsen Committee, the Irish Society for Theatre Research, and Professor Ann Heinemann and Dr Mark Llewellyn, organisers of the Third International George Moore Conference. I thank the Irish Theatre scholars with whom I was fortunate to discuss my ideas and those who encouragement: Dr Patrick Burke, Professor Joan FitzPatrick Dean Professor Kathleen Heininge, Dr Eamonn Jordan, Dr Cathy Leaney, Professor Christopher Murray, Professor Donald Morse and Professor x
Acknowledgements xi Anthony Roche. I also wish to specially thank Professor Joan Templeton, editor of the Ibsen News and Comment. I thank the Centre for Ibsen Studies in Oslo for the opportunity to present some of the sections from this book at an in-house seminar and to carry out research at the extensive collection held at the Centre. My thanks go to all the staff at the Centre. I am particularly grateful to Dr Aina Nøding and Randi Meyer for providing me with important archival materials. During my stay in Oslo, it was an honour to discuss some of my ideas with Professor Bjørn Tysdahl. I thank Professor Frode Helland and Professor Astrid Sæther. My thanks also go to Jens-Morten Hanssen and Benedikte Berntzen at ibsen.net, Anette Storli Anderssen and Giuliano d Amico. I would like to express my special gratitude to Professor Tore Rem for his generous interest in my work. My thanks go to Scott Kraft, Acting Head of Special Collections at Northwestern University Library Illinois, and to Nick Munagian for providing me with materials from the Archives of the Gate Theatre of Dublin. Many thanks to the staff of the James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway, the Manuscript Department at the National Library of Ireland, and the Trinity College Manuscript Department. All efforts have been made to secure rights for material used in this book. I gratefully acknowledge RTÉ Radio, Ireland s Public Service Broadcaster, for permissions to use transcriptions form The Hilton and Michael Show. I thank the Board of the National Library of Ireland for permission to quote from the manuscripts of Joseph Holloway. I am grateful to Gerry O Regan, editor of the Irish Independent, for permission to use quotations form the Irish Independent and the Freeman s Journal. My thanks to John Braine for letting me use photographs by Harry Braine. For allowing me to quote from the unpublished autobiographical piece by Shelah Richards, I thank her son, Micheal Johnston. I thank the Gate Theatre Dublin and Michael Travers, executor of MacLiammóir Estate, for permission to use Micheál MacLiammóir s sketch for Peer Gynt. I thank all my friends. While unable to name all, I would like to mention with gratitude Alan Bergin, Dermot Burns, Jennifer and Tina Hannon, Val Nolan, Kinga Olszewska, Garret O Malley, Catherine Ryan, Jennifer Smith and Áine Tierney. My family have been a constant source of support. I would like to thank Maureen Nevin, Niall Cawley, Vladimir Ruppo, Michael and Mark Malone, Ella and Alexandra Ruppo, and especially my parents-in-law, John and Helen Malone, and my mother, Marina Ruppo. And very special thanks to my wonderful husband, Paul Malone, and our little daughter, Alice.