Classics and Celtic literary modernism: Years, Joyce, MacDiarmid and Jones

challenge existing perspectives. The book in essence is a critique of twentieth-century Irish playwrights, particularly the less frequently studied whose work focuses on the representation of the individuals and communities during times of war, upheavals, and crises. Kao justifies the choice of selected plays explaining that they are “theatrical forms of investigation” (16). The plays present an intersection between public and private memory of major ignored events and issues which have either already disappeared into history or will disappear; hence, their dramatisation serves to remind future audiences of the historical incidents, human violations, and political manipulations behind the wars.