A Forgotten Franco-Irish Literary Network: Hannah Lynch, Arvède Barine and Salon Culture of Fin-de-Siècle Paris

Abstract

This paper is an exploration of Irish émigré author Hannah Lynch ( 1859- 1904), her parti­ cipation in the salon culture of the Parisian belle époque, and the impact of these social and lite­ rary networks on her career. We will focus in particular on her relationship with the historian, biographer, and literary critic 'Arvède Barine' (Louise-Cécile Vincens), drawing upon Lynch's unpublished letters to Barine, pon their respective articles on feminism, politics, and French literature, and upon Lynch's 1896 novel Denys D'Auvrillac. We will more briefly discuss Lynch's association with other notable figures such as the poet Mary Robinson , who held her own Paris salon after her marriage to James Darmesteter, and the medievalist Gaston Paris, with whom Lynch also corresponded. By examining Lynch's negotiations within a complex and combative field, we will argue for a reading of her work that engages fully with her French context and influences during this period, and bring to light a provocative Irish voice largely absent from accounts of the late nineteenth-century diaspora.