William Davies (editor) - Beckett and Politics

New Directions in Irish and Irish American Literature promotes fresh scholarship that explores models of Irish and Irish American identity and examines issues that address and shape the contours of Irishness and works that investigate the fluid, shifting, and sometimes multivalent discipline of Irish Studies. Politics, the academy, gender, and Irish and Irish American culture, among other things, have not only inspired but affected recent scholarship centered on Irish and Irish American literature. The series's focus on Irish and Irish American literature and culture contributes to our twenty-first century understanding of Ireland, America, Irish Americans, and the creative, intellectual, and theoretical spaces between. promotes fresh scholarship that explores models of Irish and Irish American identity and examines issues that address and shape the contours of Irishness and works that investigate the fluid, shifting, and sometimes multivalent discipline of Irish Studies. Politics, the academy, gender, and Irish and Irish American culture, among other things, have not only inspired but affected recent scholarship centered on Irish and Irish American literature. The series's focus on Irish and Irish American literature and culture contributes to our twenty-first century understanding of Ireland, America, Irish Americans, and the creative, intellectual, and theoretical spaces between.

More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14747

Cover credit: Colors Hunter-Chasseur de Couleurs/Getty Images

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

A volume such as this is only made possible by the hard work, patience and enthusiasm of its contributors. Our first and foremost thanks are to them. Many of the authors attended or contributed to the Beckett and Politics conference held at the University of Reading in 2016, which sparked the debates that drove this project, and we thank all those who have been with us from the conference through to the books completion, as well as those scholars who have joined us through invitation along the way. Special thanks to Niamh M. Bowe, Michela Bariselli and Antonio Gambacorta for their work in co-organising the event, and to the University of Readings Samuel Beckett Research Centre for their institutional support and guidance.

We thank the staff at Palgrave Macmillan for their support and interest in the project, and for guiding the project through the editorial process. Thanks also to the anonymous peer-review readers for their insightful and constructive comments on the volume, and to Hannah Simpson for her thorough and helpful feedback on the volumes introduction.