John Millington Synge and Pádraic Ó Conaire: Unexpected Fellow Travellers Between Romanticism, Realism and Beyond

In common perception, the Irish Literary Revival and the Gaelic Revival often appear as essentially unrelated movements, divided by language and with little in common. The essay points to deeper similarities between them on the basis of two of their prominent representatives, the renowned playwright John Millington Synge (1871–1909) and the Irish-language prose writer Pádraic Ó Conaire (1882–1928). It takes into account instances of direct influence of Synge on Ó Conaire, but the main focus is on the reflection of various streams of European thought in the oeuvres of both authors. The most important are late legacies of Romanticism, which include the emphasis on artistic individuality, the celebration of wild nature, and an interest in people on the margins of society. Also the influences of realism, naturalism and incipient modernism are discussed. The correspondences between both prominent authors assume surprisingly concrete forms and testify to the need to study modern Irish literature in both languages side by side.