“Like a Homing Bird to its Nest”: Irish Writers and Mid-Century U.S. Magazines

Abstract

This article argues that insufficient attention has been paid to the voluminous fiction published by Irish writers in U.S. magazines during the period 1940 to 1970. Focusing particularly on Maura Laverty’s stories for Woman’s Day magazine (1949-1958), the article not only extends existing scholarship on Laverty (which focuses almost exclusively on her impact in Ireland) but also significantly challenges existing models for understanding mid-twentieth century Irish literary culture.

This essay reads Laverty’s Woman’s Day stories in the context of changes taking place in the art of homemaking in the decade or so after World War II, particularly in relation to the buying and preparation of food. The rise of packaged and convenience foods in the U.S. as well as labour-saving appliances was accompanied, as several historians note, by “growing doubts that the glittering new appliances and attractively packaged processed foods could really deliver on their promises of freedom.” Laverty’s stories of Irish village life – many of which link romance with consumption (both the buying and eating) of food – enabled Woman’s Day readers to partake in a fantasy of “old-fashioned” ways of homemaking and, particularly, of shopping for and preparing food. At the same time, they do not eschew convenience or show disdain for magazine readers who took short-cuts in the kitchen. As such, Laverty stories negotiated skilfully some of the tensions that animated the post-war U.S. kitchen.