Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-320) and index.

Preliminary Material -- THE DONKEYS AND THE NARROWBACKS: CONTEMPORARY CIRCUS ANIMALS -- DEFINING THE OBJECT FOR STRUGGLE: EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE AGE OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY – FRANK MCCOURT, ANGELA’S ASHES AND SEAMUS DEANE, READING IN THE DARK -- BELFAST AND SOUTH BOSTON: CUT OFF FROM SERIOUS CONSIDERATION – GERRY ADAMS, BEFORE THE DAWN AND MICHAEL PATRICK MACDONALD, ALL SOULS -- THE VOID OF IRISH IDENTITY: NUALA O’FAOLAIN, ARE YOU SOMEBODY -- TIM O’BRIEN’S IRONIC AESTHETIC: FAITH AND THE NATURE OF A “TRUE” STORY -- THE DELUSION OF CULTURAL STUDIES: COLM TÓIBÍN, THE BLACKWATER LIGHTSHIP -- PICARESQUE FARCE: NICK LAIRD, UTTERLY MONKEY -- ICONS FOR THE NEW AGE: THE TRANSVESTITE IN PATRICK MCCABE’S BREAKFAST ON PLUTO AND THE BALLET DANCER IN COLUM MCCANN’S DANCER -- HOME ISN’T THERE ANY MORE: WILLIAM TREVOR’S THE STORY OF LUCY GAULT AND JOHN MCGAHERN’S BY THE LAKE -- TRANSFORMING NOSTALGIA FOR THE VICTORIAN: CLARE BOYLAN’S CHARLOTTE BRONTË NOVEL, EMMA BROWN -- THE IRISH WESTERN EPIC: RODDY DOYLE REMAKES JOHN FORD – THE LAST ROUNDUP -- THE AMERICAN WAKE: ALICE MCDERMOTT, CHILD OF MY HEART -- BEING IRISH AND BEING NOTHING: THE ABYSS OF IDENTITY IN ALICE MCDERMOTT’S CHARMING BILLY AND EDWARD J. DELANEY’S FICTION -- THE HEADACHE AND THE ASPIRIN: SEX AS DISEASE AND CURE IN SHERMAN ALEXIE’S THE TOUGHEST INDIAN IN THE WORLD, COLUM MCCANN’S THIS SIDE OF BRIGHTNESS, AND OTHER CONTEMPORARY STORIES -- LOW SERIOUSNESS IN BETH LORDAN’S BUT COME YE BACK -- THE DECAY OF LYING? ON LIFE SUPPORT IN WILLIAM KENNEDY’S ROSCOE AND THOMAS KELLY’S THE RACKETS -- VISITING THE AMERICAN SIXTIES ON IRELAND: MARY GORDON’S PEARL -- THE NECESSITY AND FUTILITY OF ROMANCE: THOMAS KELLY’S EMPIRE RISING -- WHAT IS THE IRISH STORY? R.F. FOSTER’S THE IRISH STORY -- THE FUNCTION OF FARCE AT THE PRESENT TIME -- THE PATTERN OF READING IN THE DARK -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX.

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Goodbye Yeats and O’Neill is a reading of one or two books recently written by the following major authors: Roddy Doyle, Colm Tóibín, John McGahern, William Trevor, Seamus Deane, Nuala O’Faolain, Patrick McCabe, Colum McCann, Nick Laird, Gerry Adams, Claire Boylan, Frank McCourt, Tim O’Brien, Michael Patrick MacDonald, Alice McDermott, Edward J. Delaney, Beth Lordan, William Kennedy, Thomas Kelly, and Mary Gordon. The study argues that farce has been a major mode of recent Irish and Irish-American fiction and memoir—a primary indicator of the state of both Irish and Irish-American cultures in the early twenty-first century.