ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that, in an era of political uncertainty, Ireland’s ‘Emergency’ exercises an increasingly strong hold on the nation’s cultural imagination, allowing writers to explore complex problems of morality and national belonging through the lens of Irish neutrality during World War II. After a brief survey of contemporary depictions of the ‘Emergency,’ the chapter focuses on portrayals of the period that have appeared since the turn of the twenty-first century, namely Dermot Bolger’s 2016 novel, The Lonely Sea and Sky,Mary Morrissey’s 2015 short story, ‘Emergency,’ and Arthur Riordan’s Improbable Frequency (2004), a satirical play which was described as ‘the world’s only science-fiction romantic spy comedy with singing.’
