Ireland in Fiction: A Guide to Irish Novels, Tales, Romances, and Folk-lore

There is a wealth of Irish fiction buried in the volumes of long extinct Irish periodicals and others still existing. Most people will have pleasurable recollections of stories read by them in one or other of the magazines which they were accustomed to read in youth—recollections which are only occasionally confirmed on a second reading in after life. I can still recall with delight many stories of Irish and even of alien characters which appeared in The Shamrock, Young Ireland, The Lamp, and other periodicals—not to speak of the numerous tales, serial and otherwise, which were a feature of the weekly editions of the ordinary Irish newspapers. Perhaps in some future edition of “A Guide to Irish Fiction” it may be possible to appraise some of the more notable of these stories and their authors. Meanwhile, it is worth recalling that in the old Dublin and London Magazine, 1825-7, there is much admirable Irish fiction, chiefly by Michael James Whitty and Denis Shine Lawlor. The same may be said, in a more restricted sense, of that in The Dublin Penny Journal, The Dublin Journal of Temperance, Science, and Literature, The Irish Penny Journal, The Irish Penny Magazine, and, above all, in The Dublin University Magazine, which in its forty odd years of existence added enormously to the general body of Irish literature. A good word must also be said for Duffy’s Hibernian and Fireside magazines, which carried on the work down to about the seventies. The Irish Monthly, most valuable of all in its services to the literature of the country, encouraged a host of clever novelists and sketch writers, though, as in the case of The Dublin University Magazine, much of its output has been gathered into volumes, there is still much to be gleaned. Much of the work already referred to is partly accessible in the libraries, but where is one to consult the stores of fiction—often charming and mostly interesting—which appeared first (and last) in the pages of The Shamrock, Young Ireland, The Irish Fireside, The Lamp (especially during John F. O’Donnell’s editorship), The Irish Emerald, and other more recent magazines? So far as I know, there are no complete sets of these in any library. But some of our best writers began their literary career by writing for these humble periodicals, and even authors who had arrived did not deem it beneath their dignity to contribute their maturer work. But it is a large question how much of this fiction is of permanent value. I have no doubt myself that a judicious collector could make many discoveries if an enterprising publisher could be found to give the results to the public. But perhaps that is not even worth discussing in these stormy days.

D. J. O’Donoghue.

IRISH FICTION IN PERIODICALS.[17]

I.—DEFUNCT PERIODICALS.

I should have liked to include in this work the fiction, at least the serial fiction, that lies buried in the back numbers of Irish periodicals. I was obliged to make up my mind, regretfully enough, that this was impossible. All that I have found practicable is to insert here a general note giving the names and dates, with occasional remarks, of some of the more noteworthy of Irish periodicals, omitting of course such as contain no fiction.

Of the eighteenth century literary periodicals, such as Droz’s Literary Journal (1744-8) and Walker’s Hibernian Magazine (1771-1811), it is unnecessary to say much, as the little fiction they contain is not of a very Irish character. But in Watty Cox’s famous Irish Magazine, which began in 1807 and ran to 1815, there are excellent Irish stories. To The Dublin and London Magazine (1825-27) M. J. Whitty and Denis Shine Lawlor, both noteworthy writers, contributed Irish tales of a sympathetic and national character. Whitty collected his into a volume, which is noted in the body of this work. A serial about Robert Emmet and another entitled “The Orangeman” ran in this periodical. Bolster’s Quarterly (1826-31) and The Dublin Monthly Magazine (1830), afterwards revived in 1842-3 as The Citizen or Dublin Monthly Magazine, call for no special comment though they contain a certain amount of fiction. The latter, for instance, had a story of 1641, “Lord Connor of Innisfallen,” and, in the 1842 revival, “Gerald Kirby, a tale of ’98.” Some of Carleton’s Traits and Stories first saw the light in this magazine. The Dublin Penny Journal (1832-6), first edited by Philip Dixon Hardy, contains a large proportion of Carleton’s stories, and many others signed McC., S. W., J. H. K., E. W., &c. In fact, it is full of matter interesting from an Irish point of view.

Then there was The Irish Penny Journal, The Irish Penny Magazine, and The Irish Metropolitan Magazine, 1857 sqq. This last was not very Irish in tone; its eyes were upon the ends of the earth, but an occasional Irish story such as “Life’s Foreshadowings” is to be found in it.

Much was done for Irish periodical literature by the firm of James Duffy. Duffy’s Irish Catholic Magazine, 1847 sq., contains much interesting Irish matter, but little fiction except a serial, “King Simnel and the Palesmen,” which, however, seems to have been dropped after the thirteenth chapter. Duffy’s Hibernian Magazine appeared in the early sixties. It had many of Carleton’s stories[18] and several serials, such as “Raymond de Burgh, or the Fortune of a Stepson, A Romance of the Exodus,” and “Winifred’s Fortune,” a story of Dublin in the days of Queen Anne.

Other ventures of Duffy’s were The Illustrated Dublin Journal (1862) and Duffy’s Fireside Magazine.

In the fifties came a periodical whose title seems a faint premonition of the Irish revival—The Celt, 1857 sq. It had a curious series of articles on Ireland’s temptations, failings, and vices. There were sketches of the South of Ireland by Aymer Clington, and C. M. O’Keeffe’s “Knights of the Pale” ran in it as a serial.

The sixties were, as we have seen, catered for by some of Duffy’s ventures. In the middle of the seventies appeared The Illustrated Monitor, afterwards The Monitor, published by Dollard, a Catholic magazine which ran for about eight volumes. Vol. I. contains two serials, “The Moores of Moore’s Court,” by D. F. Hannigan, and “High Treason,” which is not of Irish interest. Other serials that ran in subsequent volumes were “Julia Marron, a tale of Irish peasant life,” by “Celt,” and “The False Witness; or, the martyr of Armagh,” by A. M. S.

In 1877 The Dublin University Magazine reached its 89th volume and became The University Magazine, losing thereby its distinctively Irish character. In the forty odd years of its existence this magazine collected a great body of first-rate Irish literature.

Then there was Young Ireland, The Irish Fireside, and The Lamp (especially during the editorship of John F. O’Donnell). In these and others such some of the best of our Irish writers began their literary careers.

As we near our own times the number of periodicals of all kinds that have appeared and disappeared—most of them after a very brief career—becomes bewildering. But the fact that they have run their course within our own memory makes detailed reference to them the less necessary. It is not many years since The Irish Packet closed its career, an excellent little popular periodical that was edited by Judge Bodkin. The Irish Literary movement produced several periodicals, for the most part perhaps somewhat exotic—Dana, Samhain, Beltaine, &c., &c. Their latest successor, and to our way of thinking much the best of them—The Irish Review—is only just deceased. The Gaelic movement, too, has produced its periodicals, but naturally most, if not all, of the fiction they contain is in the national language. The two best of these, The Gaelic Journal and Gadelica, have most unhappily come to an end, the former after quite a considerable career, the latter after a short one.

I have said nothing of the provincial press, though there were excellent literary periodicals in Cork and Belfast,[19] nor of the weekly editions of the ordinary daily papers, which sometimes contain fiction of very good quality.

It would be impossible to give here even a bird’s-eye view of the fiction of the Irish-American press. I may, however, mention a very fine review, the Gael, of New York, which reached its twenty-third and last volume in 1904. It has contributions from all our leading present day Irish writers.

II.—CURRENT PERIODICALS.

The Irish Monthly may fairly, I think, claim mention in the first place for, to the best of my knowledge, its forty-three years constitute a life longer than that of any other still surviving Irish literary review.[20] In it, under the sympathetic guidance and the kind encouragement of Father Matthew Russell, its founder and for forty years its editor, many authors well known to-day began the making of their literary reputations. It contains many serials, not a few of which have since appeared in book form. “The Wild Birds of Killeevy” first ran in its pages.

The Irish Rosary is in its nineteenth volume. It is one of the very few Irish periodicals that has succeeded in maintaining itself as a well illustrated magazine, and it has done so at the exceptionally low price of fourpence. Fiction forms a large proportion of its contents, which are never stodgy nor yet what is called goody-goody.

The Catholic Bulletin is comparatively a new-comer, but already quite a number of volumes, including Fr. Fitzgerald’s two books (q.v.), have been reprinted from its pages. Its tone is thoroughly Irish.

Then there are innumerable little periodicals which, unlike the three just mentioned, contain stories of an almost exclusively religious or moral character, such as the Annals of St. Antony, The Messenger of the Sacred Heart, &c.

The excellent Ireland’s Own, a popular weekly on the lines of Answers and Tit-Bits, deserves a word of mention. Its library of reprints is referred to elsewhere.

Besides these there are the weekly numbers of the daily papers already referred to and the periodicals devoted to Gaelic literature, a list of which will be found in the section of this Appendix, entitled Gaelic Epic and Romantic Literature.

In America many periodicals publish Irish fiction from time to time, but practically the only periodicals the contents of which are predominantly Irish are of an almost exclusively political character. The Catholic World has published Irish serials, e.g., in the seventies, “The Home Rule Candidate: a tale of New Ireland,” by the author of “The Little Chapel at Monamullin.” Several of Canon Sheehan’s novels first appeared in American periodicals.