Gregory Ghosts: Haunting Irishness

This book is a kind of Irish ghost story. In it the ghosts of Lady Augusta Gregory (1852-1932) and eight of her family members and colleagues look back over their lives—and sometimes forward beyond them—to try to make sense of them, their times, and one another. Theirs were all turbulent lives played out on the western edge of Europe at a time of great change. Lady Gregory helped shape that change at a pivotal moment in Ireland’s development into a modern nation state. The author’s fresh approach questions and complicates the image of her as a prim Victorian workhorse. Setting her in the midst of the personal chatter of her departed family, lovers, friends, and collaborators brings home how the historical Irish moment found her just when it needed her. “Melding scholarship and creative work, Kevin Reilly’s Gregory Ghosts vividly explores the origins of the Irish Literary Revival through fictionalized—though scrupulously factual—narratives written in the voices of the major players. The presence of Lady Gregory herself, in all her ambition and contradictions, shines through all of the lives that Reilly has so imaginatively re-created here.” —James Silas Rogers, Editor Emeritus, New Hibernia Review “A fresh, vibrant, and fascinating contribution to the scholarly and popular literature on the Irish dramatic movement and the wider Irish Literary Renaissance.” — James Donnelly, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison “This book captivated me by way of its engaging imaginative premise, its originality, and its attention to historical detail.” —Dr. Kay Martinovich, School of Theatre and Dance, Northern Illinois University