OIDHREACHT AN OIDE/LEGACIES AND FUTURES: AN INTERVIEW WITH DECLAN KIBERD

Abstract

Declan Kiberd is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on modern Irish literature, postcolonial critique, and literary modernism. Having held prominent academic appointments as Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature at University College Dublin, and the Donald and Marilyn Keough Endowed Professorship of Irish Studies at the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame, he has spent decades reshaping our understanding of the complex interplay between culture, language, history, and the written and oral word in Ireland. From his early groundbreaking work on J.M. Synge and the Irish language to his leadership in global celebrations of Irish modernism, Kiberd, writing in Irish and English in international publications, consistently bridges the gap between rigorous scholarship and the general reading public. His landmark 1995 book, Inventing Ireland, which emerged as a foundational text in Irish Studies as the Celtic Tiger era blossomed, played a critical role in defining university curricula across Europe and North America. Subsequent major works, including Irish Classics and After Ireland, further cemented his status as an indispensable chronicler of Ireland’s literary and cultural traditions.