Ruined Futures: Gentrification as Famine in Post-Celtic Tiger Irish Literature

One of the defining features of the Celtic Tiger was a massive boom in construction that left a visible mark on the Irish landscape. This essay analyzes the works of Anne Haverty and Donal Ryan to highlight how they use the tropes and lingering traumas of the Famine to criticize contemporary forms of gentrification. In their texts, post-Celtic Tiger communities adopt the signifiers and consequences of a new famine; essentially, they articulate how physical changes to the Irish landscape constitute a “famine of gentrification” that makes land unable to sustain, both materially and culturally, an Irish community.