''Strumpet City'' is a 1969

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...

James Plunkett James Plunkett Kelly, or James Plunkett (21 May 1920 – 28 May 2003), was an Irish writer. He was educated at Synge Street CBS. Kelly grew up among the Dublin working class and they, along with the petty bourgeoisie and lower intelligentsi ...

set in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, around the time of the 1913

Dublin Lock-out The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Dublin, Ireland. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often viewed as the most severe and s ...

. In 1980, it was adapted into a TV drama by

Hugh Leonard Hugh Leonard (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiograph ...

for

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

, Ireland's national broadcaster. The novel is an epic, tracing the lives of a dozen characters as they are swept up in the tumultuous events that affected Dublin between 1907 and 1914.

''The Risen People''

The novel's roots date from 1954, when Plunkett's

radio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

''Big Jim'' was produced by

Radio Éireann Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to ...

, with

Jim Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...

the titular hero. In 1958, it was expanded into a gloomier and more stylized stage play, ''The Risen People'', staged at the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the p ...

. Kathleen Heininge characterises it as a dry work which read as "pure propaganda for a socialist agenda". When Hutchinson requested a novel about

James Connolly James Connolly (; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was a Scottish people, Scottish-born Irish republicanism, Irish republican, socialist, and trade union leader, executed for his part in the Easter Rising, 1916 Easter Rising against British rule i ...

from Plunkett, he reworked the play again; Connolly does not feature in ''Strumpet City'', published in 1969. ''The Risen People'' was revived and revised in 1977 for the

Project Arts Centre Project Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary arts centre based in Temple Bar, Dublin, which hosts visual arts, theatre, dance, music, and performance. History Project Arts Centre was founded by Jim FitzGerald and Colm O'Briain in 1967 after a th ...

and

Jim Sheridan Jim Sheridan (born 6 February 1949) is an Irish people, Irish playwright and filmmaker. Between 1989 and 1993, Sheridan directed three critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, ''My Left Foot'' (1989), ''The Field (1990 film), The Field'' (19 ...

. A 2013–14 revival at the Abbey included "the Noble Call", a speech in response to the play's themes from a different public figure at each performance.

Panti Bliss Rory O'Neill (born 16 November 1968), also known by his stage names Panti, Panti Bliss and Pandora Panti Bliss, is a drag queen and gay rights activist from Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ireland. Early life O'Neill, the son of a veterinary surgeon, ...

' speech on LGBT rights in Ireland at the closing performance attracted media attention.

Reception

It was immensely popular when it was published. The writing is direct and powerfully evokes the over-population, the terrible poverty and the peculiar intimacy of pre-independence Dublin. One theme is the essential goodness of people and the tenderness which survives the brutality of deprivation. The popularity of the novel also owed something to events in Ireland in the early 1970s, as

The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

made the more traditional iconography of the insurrectionary period troublesome, while economic stagnation and social crisis fostered empathy for the former Dublin of tenements, working class heroes and vagrant balladeers. In 2013

Dublin City Libraries Dublin City Libraries is the public library service for Dublin, Ireland. It is largest library authority in the Republic of Ireland, serving over half a million people and around 2.6 million visits annually through a network of 21 branch librar ...

chose Strumpet City as its 'One City One Book' book of the year, in commemoration of the centenary of the 1913 Lockout. On 5 November 2019, ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'' included ''Strumpet City'' on its list of the 100 most influential novels.

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Strumpet City'' is discussed in an obituary for James Plunkett
in the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' *

Eileen Battersby Eileen Battersby ( Whiston; 4 June 1956 – 23 December 2018) was the chief literary critic of ''The Irish Times''. She sometimes divided opinion, having been described by John Banville as "the finest fiction critic we have", while attracting ...

asks
"Is ''Strumpet City'' the great Irish novel?"
in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

''
'''Strumpet City''': the impossible Irish novel''
Edited introduction by

Fintan O'Toole Fintan O'Toole (born 16 February 1958) is an Irish journalist, literary editor, and drama critic for ''The Irish Times'', for which he has written since 1988. He was drama critic for the ''New York Daily News'' from 1997 to 2001 and is Advisin ...

to new edition of ''Strumpet City'' 1969 novels Culture in Dublin (city) History of Dublin (city) Irish historical novels Novels set in Dublin (city) Hutchinson (publisher) books 20th-century Irish novels