This book explores the differences between ‘high’ and ‘low’ cultures in an Irish context, arguing that these differences need constant redefinition. It examines the boundary between élite and popular culture using objects of study as various as canonical Irish literature, postcards, digital animation, surfing and the teaching of Irish mythology.

Sylvie Mikowski is Professor of Irish Studies at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France. Her main field of research is Irish contemporary fiction, particularly John McGahern, Roddy Doyle, Colum McCann and Sebastian Barry. She has also published on Irish women novelists and gender issues and on the history of the book in Ireland.

Contents: Darryl Jones: Dracula Goes to London – Sandra Mayer: The Importance of Commemorating Literary Celebrity: Oscar Wilde and Contemporary Literary Memorial Culture – Xavier Giudicelli: Dorian Gray in/and Popular Culture: Text, Image, Film – Claire Poinsot: ‘Souls the like of ours/Are not precious to God as your soul is’: Elite, Popular and Folk Culture in William Butler Yeats’ Plays – Adrienne Janus: Listening High and Low: Yeats, Joyce, Beckett and the Condition of Music in Modernist Irish Literature – Yannick Bellenger-Morvan: C.S. Lewis: An Experiment in Popular Literature? – Kevin Wallace: ‘Fintan O’Toole: Power Plays’ and the High Art/Low Art Discourse in the Narrative of Irish Theatre – Chantal Dessaint-Payard: or the Dissemination of Cultures in by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne – Frédéric Armao: The Folklore of Spring in Ireland: A Dichotomy of Traditions – Pádraic Frehan: National Self-Image: The Imagological Impact and Subsequent Contemporary Permeations of Celtic Mythology in Ireland’s School Literature from 1924 – Valérie Morisson: From Hinde to Hillen: Postcards and the Issue of Authenticity in Popular Culture – Alexia Martin: The Carnsore Point Festival (1978-1981): Between Antinuclear Rally and Cultural Event – Stephen Boyd: Surfing a Postnationalist Wave: The Role of Surfing in Irish Popular Culture – Ruth Alexandra Moran: (2009): Digital Aesthetics and Popular Culture.