This wide-ranging book surveys the landscape of the Irish novel from the Act of Union to the end of the Edwardian era. Thirty representative works are selected for fluent and accessible discussion. Focusing on the problematic condition of the protagonist, each discussion combines close reading with considerations of such broader thematic and conceptual issues as identities, contexts, genres and language. An insightful introduction underlines these issues' significance, and a further understanding of that is provided by noting their various iterations over the whole range of novels selected....