Dear Editor,
Harold Bloom, the esteemed literary scholar, introduced the idea of “anxiety of influence” – a sense often experienced by contemporary authors who feel their work is under the towering reputation of their forbearers. In Irish literature, the indelible impact of well-known personalities such as Yeats and Joyce is frequently discussed.
Now that celebrated author Edna O’Brien has passed on, one hopes that her significant influence, which may well stoke feelings of apprehension amongst modern writers, will continue unabated.
Yours sincerely,
Anne Marie Kennedy,
Co Galway.