War of the words

Rebellion has been a feature of French and Irish literature since people first began to put ideas on paper. This is not surprising in light of the history of both countries, which is shot through with bloody conflict, political agitation and revolt against the status quo. This book, the first of two volumes emanating from the highly successful annual AFIS conference held in University College Cork in May 2009, is the fifth publication of the National Centre for Franco-Irish Studies, based in IT Tallaght. Figures dealt with include Dion Boucicault, J.W. Whitbread, Hannah Lynch, Fannie Gallaher, May Laffan, George Sand, Liam O'Flaherty, Charles Baudelaire, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Paul Verlaine, Ciaran Carson, Seamus Heaney, John McGahern, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and Sebastian Barry.

Thanks to the following for their editorial assistance: Yann Bévant, Scott Brewster, Anne Fogarty, Anne Goarzin, Peter Guy, Sylvie Mikowski, Paula Murphy, Grace Neville, Mary Pierse and James Rogers.