Audiobook · read by volunteers
Insurrection in Dublin
James Stephens (1882–1950)
Read by iremonger · 4 chapters · 2 h 10
About the book
Dublin, Easter Week, 1916. Armed Irish republicans seize key buildings in the heart of the city and proclaim a republic, and for six days the streets become a battlefield. James Stephens, a novelist and poet who lived and worked in Dublin, watched the events unfold and wrote down what he saw. Insurrection in Dublin is an eyewitness account of a city in turmoil: the rumours, the sound of gunfire, the fears and the strange, shifting mood of ordinary people caught between curiosity and alarm. Stephens writes with a poet's eye and a reporter's urgency, keeping close to what he could see and hear. In four parts, read by iremonger in about two hours, the book brings the events of Easter 1916 vividly to life. Stephens does not pretend to be neutral; his pages are a personal record, and all the more valuable for it.
Introduction
James Stephens (1882-1950) was an Irish novelist and poet, born in Dublin, who is best known for his fantasy novel The Crock of Gold, published in 1912. He was part of the literary circles of Dublin in the early twentieth century and was a friend of leading figures of the Irish literary revival. Insurrection in Dublin, published in 1916, is among his few works of non-fiction, and it reached readers in the very year of the events it describes.
The Easter Rising of 1916 was an armed rebellion by Irish republicans who hoped to win independence from Britain by force. The rebels were defeated within a week, but the executions that followed, along with the wider political changes of the next years, made the Rising a turning point in Irish history. This account was written by Stephens as the events happened, drawing on what he observed and heard in Dublin during that week and afterwards.
The value of the book lies in its immediacy. Unlike later histories, it does not view the Rising through the lens of what came afterwards. It records the confusion of the moment, the uncertainty of civilians who did not know what was happening, and the changing attitudes of the city's inhabitants. Stephens does not claim to give a complete or neutral history, and the reader should bear in mind that this is a personal and partial view.
The recording is read by LibriVox volunteer iremonger, runs for about two hours and is divided into four parts. It will appeal to anyone interested in Irish history, in eyewitness writing or in the literary response to historical events.
Public domain
James Stephens died in 1950: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text