A fine addition to Syracuse University Press's growing list in Irish studies, Giulia Bruna's monograph mobilises archival material, newspaper reviews and a number of little-known travel narratives to present JM Synge, the leading light of the Irish literary revival, as a keen and self-aware social commentator. Although this is not a new idea in itself, Bruna develops its foundations and gives the argument contextual nuance by relating Synge's prose works to those of understudied contemporaries such as Mary Banim, William Bulfin, Emily Lawless and Robert Lynd. It is particularly strong in its exploration of Synge's contribution to literary magazines such as the Gael and the Shanachie and in its contextualisation of Synge's photographic work in the west of Ireland, showing how sensitively Synge reacted to new technologies and media. The significance of some of the findings of this study could productively be extended to Synge's dramatic works and, through this, to the broader relationship between Synge's modernist travel writings and the modernity of his plays.
