One of the defining moments in late twentieth-century Irish literature was the publication of "The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing" (1991), which immediately created a controversy. This extensive collection covering more than a thousand years was marked by the virtual absence of female writers. To fill this gap, Cork University Press published "The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing: Irish Women's Writing and Traditions" in 2002. In response, "Opening the Field" offers a collection of essays in which ten prominent critics each examine a text by an Irish woman, applying a specific feminist perspective. Each contributor has chosen both the writer and the analytical and theoretical stance she develops in her essay. The strategy behind the book is to demonstrate the different varieties of feminist criticism and the numerous ways in which books by Irish women can be read, taking into account both the text under consideration and the contexts in which it was written and can/might be read.
This collection will be valuable for scholars in both Irish Studies and Women's Studies; it will also serve as a useful classroom text, as its several perspectives combine with close readings of many works thus serving well as supplementary reading for classes in Irish literature.