Creating the Irish Book: The Cultural and Aesthetic Work of the Dolmen Press

Inspired by William Morris’s Arts and Crafts Movement, as well as Elizabeth Yeats’s Cuala Press, Liam Miller established The Dolmen Press in Dublin in 1951. An architect by trade, Miller had little editorial experience and even less knowledge of the printing craft. Yet, he fiercely believed that Irish writers must have a means of publication in their native country. Grounded in a belief in the unique literary voice of his country, Miller’s enterprise, and the ensuing literary movement he fostered, sought to produce and define the Irish book. This project looks at the collaboration between Miller and three of his authors: Thomas Kinsella, Juanita Casey, and Austin Clarke. My first chapter examines the creation of Kinsella’s Another September, the second looks at the making of Casey’s novel The Horse of Selene, and my third chapter explores Clarke’s collection Later Poems. In the desire to marry the visual and the verbal, the Dolmen Press showed how artistic projects could become cultural commentary, exporting varied depictions of Irish life. The following study examines the collaboration between Miller and his authors, showing how each project, whether through a treatment of beauty or use of social satire, spoke to Liam Miller’s goal to publish Irish books.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Johnson, Elizabeth Carone

• Liam Miller

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/14905

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/14905