Glocal Irish Village Imaginaries: the Local-colour Stories of Erminda Rentoul Esler and Katherine Frances Purdon

Abstract

In this article, I explore the way two lesser-known Irish women writers—Donegal-born but London-based Erminda Rentoul Esler (1860–1924) and County Meath native and resident Katherine Frances Purdon (1852–1920)—differently construct the ‘local’ in their village tales at the turn of the twentieth century. I highlight the ways in which their regional stories existed in a complex, supranational media environment that was simultaneously alert to local modes of Irish revivalism and international literary trends but also models of regionalism such as the Scottish ‘kailyard’ tradition and North American local colour fiction. I therefore propose that both writers’ villages are ‘glocal’, because of their engagement with other national traditions of village literature and with international audiences and publishers. In the case of both authors, the stories involve a glocal village imaginary which supersedes both Irish national borders and Irish regions and is inspired by existing traditions of village literature beyond Ireland.