Research interests
The poetry, prose and thought of Seamus Heaney, W. B. Yeats and James Joyce; 21st century Irish Writing; Contemporary Irish Culture; Literary and Cultural Theory
Click here for CV.
Click here for full text of research articles on MIRR (Mary Immaculate College Research Repository).
Editor of the Literary and Critical Theory module in Oxford University Press's Oxford Bibliographies Online Series.
Editor of the Routledge Studies in Irish Literature series.
He is currently working on:
The Routledge Companion to Twenty-First Century Irish Writing, with Anne Fogarty, Routledge, 2024
Reading Micheal O’Siadhail: The Gift of Tongues, Routledge, 2025
More information
Eugene O’Brien is Full Professor of English Literature and Theory, and Head of the Department of English Language and Literature in Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland, and is also the director of the Mary Immaculate Institute for Irish Studies. He is the editor of:
The Oxford Online Bibliographies: Literary and Cultural Theory Module
The Routledge Studies in Irish Literature Series
He has published a number of books on Seamus Heaney and on contemporary Irish writing and culture.
Books as Single Author
Reading Paul Howard: The Art of Ross O’Carroll Kelly, London and New York: Routledge 2023
Seamus Heaney as Aesthetic Thinker: A Study of the Prose, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2016
‘Kicking Bishop Brennan Up the Arse’: Interlacing Texts and Contexts, New York: Peter Lang, 2009
Seamus Heaney: Creating Irelands of the Mind (Second enlarged and revised edition, first published 2002), Dublin: Liffey Press, 2007
Seamus Heaney: Searches for Answers, London: Pluto Press, 2004
Seamus Heaney and the Place of Writing, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003
Examining Irish Nationalism in the Context of Literature, Culture and Religion: A Study of the Epistemological Structure of Nationalism, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2002
Seamus Heaney: Creating Irelands of the Mind, Dublin: Liffey Press, 2002
The Question of Irish Identity in the Writings of W. B. Yeats and James Joyce, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1998
Books as Editor
The Routledge Companion to 21st Century Irish Writing, edited by Anne Fogarty and Eugene O'Brien, London: Routledge, 2024
‘Getting the Words Right’: A Festschrift for Eamon Maher, with Grace Neville and Sarah Nolan, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2024
'The Frontier of Writing’: A Study of Seamus Heaney's Prose, edited by Ian Hickey and Eugene O'Brien, London: Routledge, 2023
Études Irlandaises – The French Journal of Irish Studies: Special Issue on Memory and Contemporary Irish Culture, volume 48, number 2, with Eóin Flannery, 2024
Irish Studies Review: Special Issue on Crisis and Commemoration in Modern Ireland, volume 30, number 4, edited by Eoin Flannery and Eugene O'Brien, 2022
Contemporary Irish Poetry and the Climate Crisis, edited by Andrew J. Auge and Eugene O’Brien, London and New York: Routledge, 2021
Reimagining Irish Studies for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien Oxford: Peter Lang, 2021
Recalling the Celtic Tiger, edited by Brian Lucy, Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2019
Patrimoine/Cultural Heritage in France and Ireland, edited by Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2019
Representations of Loss in Irish Literature, edited by Deirdre Flynn and Eugene O’Brien, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018
Tracing the Cultural Legacy of Irish Catholicism: From Galway to Cloyne, and Beyond (paperback 2nd edition), edited by Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2018
The Soul Exceeds its Circumstances: The Later Poetry of Seamus Heaney, edited by Eugene O’Brien, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2016
From Prosperity to Austerity: A Socio-Cultural Critique of the Celtic Tiger and its Aftermath, edited by Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2014
Breaking the Mould: Literary Representations of Irish Catholicism and Ireland, edited by Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2011
War of the Words: Literary Rebellion in France and Ireland, edited by Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, Tir: Publication du CRBC Rennes 2, Université Européenne de Bretagne, 2010
Issues of Globalisation and Secularisation in France and Ireland, edited by Yann Bévant, Grace Neville, Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2009
Modernity and Postmodernity in a Franco-Irish Context, edited by Grace Neville, Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2008
Reinventing Ireland through a French Prism, edited by Grace Neville, Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2007
La France et la Mondialisation: France and the Struggle against Globalization, edited by Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007
