Irish literature has long flourished and circulated beyond the confines of the small island. Irish poems, plays, and fiction have been instrumental in conjuring and shaping Ireland as a nation and created possibilities for meaningful change. Featuring highlights from the collections of Leonard L. Milberg, Irish Literature: History & Myth Since 1798 explores how Irish literature provides a model for why art matters in times of crisis, how it functions as an agent of political transformation, and what power it holds to craft alternative historical trajectories.
Irish writers—based in Ireland and across the diaspora—turn to mythmaking as they wrestle with questions of exile, national belonging, and identity. The exhibition celebrates how such writing plays an integral role in the formation of ideas about Irish history, myth, nationhood, and cultural renewal. Emphasizing formal and aesthetic literary experimentation, Irish Literature: History & Myth Since 1798 features more than 135 rare books, manuscripts, broad sheets, playbills, drawings, prints, and illustrations. Curated by Renée Fox, PhD; Greg Londe, PhD; and Anne Lessy, assistant curator of history exhibitions and academic engagement at The New York Historical