The Irish Comic Tradition (Galaxy Books)

This book makes the first sustained attempt to trace an unbroken comic tradition in Irish literature from approximately the ninth century down to the present day. Irish humor, wit, satire, and parody each receive separate treatment in one or more chapters. The continuity between Gaelic and Anglo-Irish comic literature is stressed, and surprising early analogues are found for certain aspects of Swift, Joyce, Beckett, and many other Anglo-Irish writers. Mr. Mercier constantly points to the primitive impulses underlying comic expression - impulses which the archaizing tendency of Irish literature brings into unusual prominence. He claims the comic as the central tradition of Irish literature and suggests that the comic spirit may antedate the tragic throughout world literature.