Women, Institutions and the Politics of Writing: A Comparative Study of Contemporary Anglophone Irish and Indian Poets

Since the 1960s there has been a shift in social and cultural perceptions of women in Ireland and India which resulted in a proliferation of women's writing in English and other languages. Among the writers who came into prominence in the last fifty years, Anglophone poets Eavan Boland, Medbh McGuckian and Paula Meehan from Ireland as well as Kamala Das, Eunice de Souza, Melanie Silgardo and Sujata Bhatt from India have achieved national and, for some, international acclaim. Their publications and careers as editors, translators, educators and activists attest to the significance of female voices in shaping a contemporary poetic canon, yet the work of these writers remained largely unexamined until the last two decades. Contributing to the fields of Irish studies, Indian studies and comparative feminist research, this dissertation demonstrates parallels in women's texts, experiences and personal histories that extend across cultural and geographical borders. Irish and Indian poets who began publishing between the 1960s and 1980s have faced similar challenges in their careers due to institutional practices of the nation-state and publishing industry, yet, the intersections of each poet's sex, ethnicity, nationality, race, religion, class, caste and socio-economic background has led her to respond in ways that differ from her contemporaries. Using case studies of seven poets writing in English–Boland, McGuckian, Meehan, Das, de Souza, Silgardo and Bhatt–I create a transnational comparison of the personal, social and cultural pressures placed on women's poetry and their careers. This project examines poetry and book history through historical and political narratives, archival research, interviews, creative industry practices and feminist theories to explore how Irish and Indian women poets respond to and challenge the politics of writing in their home countries and abroad.