<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<records>
<record>
    <language>eng</language>
        <publisher>Journal of Irish Studies</publisher>
        <journalTitle>Estudios Irlandeses</journalTitle>
        <eissn>1699-311X</eissn>
            <publicationDate>2026-07-16</publicationDate>
        <volume>21.2</volume>
    <issue>21.2</issue>
        <startPage>43</startPage>
    <endPage>53</endPage>
    <publisherRecordId>15130</publisherRecordId>
    <documentType>article</documentType>
    <title language="eng"><![CDATA[ Samuel Beckett and Blanaid Salkeld: Connections, Critique, and Collaboration ]]></title>

    <authors>
     
      <author>
        <name><![CDATA[ Gráinne Condon ]]></name>
        <affiliationId>1</affiliationId>
      </author>
        </authors>

    <affiliationsList>
       
      <affiliationName affiliationId="1"><![CDATA[ Independent Scholar ]]></affiliationName>
        </affiliationsList>

        <abstract language="eng"><![CDATA[ This paper traces some of the connections between the canonical Samuel Beckett (1906-89) and the almost-forgotten Blanaid Salkeld (1880-1958). Both were involved with the Irish literary scene, had mutual friends, and moved in the same social and creative circles. During the 1930s, the second decade of the Irish Free State, while Beckett travelled between Ireland and other European countries, Salkeld remained living and immersed in Dublin’s artistic activities. In August 1934, under the pseudonym Andrew Belis,[1] Beckett’s opinion piece “Recent Irish Poetry” was published in The Bookman. Here, Beckett distinguishes between the “antiquarians”, poets invested in Ireland’s past and who then dominated the Irish poetry scene, and “others” who display more modern tendencies in their verse (1934: 235). Nestled within Beckett’s polemic, which is predominantly focused on male poets, is his views on Salkeld’s debut collection, Hello! Eternity (1933). Explored here are Beckett’s cross-generational friendships with the Salkeld family, his perspective on Blanaid Salkeld’s poetry as well as his intended contribution to her successful broadsheet series: Dublin Poets &amp; Artists (circa. 1939–43). Intertwined in this examination are associations with three small, private presses: the Europa Press, which was founded by their mutual friend George Reavey, the Cuala Press, which was set up by Elizabeth “Lolly” Yeats and Susan “Lily” Yeats, and Salkeld’s Gayfield Press, which she co-founded with her son, Cecil, in 1937. Also informing this examination are new findings from this author’s discovery and ongoing analysis of Blanaid Salkeld’s private literary archive.
Notes
[1] Belis was the (slightly misspelled) surname of Beckett’s maternal grandmother, Anne (née Belas).
 ]]></abstract>
    
    <fullTextUrl format="pdf">https://www.estudiosirlandeses.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/5_2026_Condon.pdf</fullTextUrl>
    
          <keywords language="eng">
              <keyword>Irish Free State poetry</keyword>
              <keyword>Irish Modernism</keyword>
              <keyword>canon of modern Irish poetry</keyword>
              <keyword>private presses (Gayfield</keyword>
              <keyword>Cuala</keyword>
              <keyword>Europa)</keyword>
              <keyword>women’s literary archives</keyword>
            </keywords>
      </record>
</records>