The Irish New Woman explores the textual and ideological connections between feminist, nationalist and anti-imperialist writing and political activism at the fin de siècle. From the 1880s on, the 'Irish Question' was a central site of struggle in British and Irish public discourse, and in this turbulent period a new generation of Irish literary writers began to resist hegemonies of a different kind, subverting gender and sexual identities and challenging prescribed roles in the family. This important new book is the first in-depth study which foregrounds the Irish and New Woman contexts, effecting a paradigm shift in the critical reception of fin de siècle writers and their work.