Paul Scott Stanfield, Yeats and Politics in the 1930s

Abstract

At first glance, Paul Scott Stanfield’s new book would seem to cover much the same ground as Elizabeth Cullingford’s Yeats, Ireland and Fascism, which appeared in 1981 and which indeed had the same British publisher. However, whereas Cullingford dealt with almost the whole of Yeats’s political career from the 1880s onwards and was very consciously attempting to refute Conor Cruise O’Brien’s notorious “Passion and Cunning” essay of 1965, Stanfield confines himself to the period indicated in his title. Having said that, it is nevertheless a pity that he makes only passing reference to Cullingford’s work, for it is quite clear that they differ in their respective interpretations of a number of important events.