All This Mine Alone: Lady Gregory and the Irish Literary Revival
Lady Gregory (1852–1932) is one of the architects of modern Ireland. She was a woman of action, devoting her considerable energy to the founding and the success of the Abbey Theatre, Ireland's national theater. As a translator and cultural visionary, working with flair and dedication, she gave new life to Irish folk tales and sagas. Her house, Coole Park, in the west of Ireland, became a center of the Irish Literary Revival.
She was an idealist, but also resolutely practical. With her gift for friendship, she nurtured the talent of others, from W.B. Yeats to J.M. Synge, from Sean O'Casey to the young James Joyce. Her move from living a life of Anglo-Irish privilege to forging a new and independent country, aware of its ancient culture, required unwavering courage and independence of mind. In her plays, translations, folklore, and works of prose, she was an original and highly successful writer. Her own work and her dream for Ireland, as well as her passionate engagement with art and politics, make her one of the most influential and compelling women of her time.
Hear curators James Pethica and Colm Tóibín, actor Lisa Dwan, and Declan Kiely read letters, journals, and poems by Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats. All audio was featured in the 2020 exhibition All This Mine Alone: Lady Gregory and the Irish Literary Revival.
Audio Guide Items
Sponsors
Support for The New York Public Library’s Exhibitions Program has been provided by Celeste Bartos, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos Exhibitions Fund, and Jonathan Altman.
Additional support is provided by the Bertha and Isaac Liberman Foundation, Inc., in memory of Ruth and Seymour Klein.