Ireland’s strong literary tradition had an impact on the passage of Ireland into political independence. Today the literary tradition is developed by a generation of contemporary writers such as Chris Binchy, Anne Enright, Deirdre Madden, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne and Colm Tóibín. Inspired by Benjamin’s idea of the two archaic types of storytellers, “the resident tiller of the soil” and the traveller who brings “the lore of faraway places”, this article explores how recent novels set in Ireland relate to tropes about the new Ireland and the world.