21 min read
What did The Irish Times first say about some works of literature that turned into classics? We trawled the archive to find out
The Irish Times was founded in March 1859 and, more than 160 years later, is recognised for the quality and the quantity of the pages it devotes to Irish and international literature. Its deep engagement is reflected in the authors who have written columns for it over the years, among them Brian Friel, Kate OâBrien, John Montague, Maeve Binchy, Derek Mahon, Nuala OâFaolain, Stewart Parker and, most famously, Flann OâBrien.
Things got off to a rather sluggish start, however, as Terence Brown observed in his history of the newspaper: âUntil the 1880s and 1890s there was little sense that Ireland possessed a literature of its own... This began to change, however, as what became known as the Irish Literary Revival began to make its impact on cultural life.â