“Stretching the Imagination into another World”: An Interview with Eibhear Walshe

Abstract

Eibhear Walshe is one of the most significant scholars in Ireland in the fields of literary criticism, biography and cultural history. As a senior lecturer in the School of English at University College Cork and director of Creative Writing at the same institution, he has been involved for more than three decades in the teaching and promotion of subjects of Irish literature. Walshe’s research interests reflect his fascination for the interconnections between politics, literature and sexuality. Since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland in 1993, lesbian and gay studies has consolidated itself as an exciting and innovative field in contemporary Irish Studies and he has been representative of this new trend, both in his academic research and in his fictional work. Walshe is also a novelist himself and it is on this facet of his life that the following interview concentrates upon.

Keywords

• irish literature
• creative writing
• oscar wilde
• georg fiedrich handel