Irish Expatriatism, Language and Literature
The Problem of English
Authors: O'Sullivan, Michael
Free Preview- Gives new readings of writers such as Oliver Goldsmith, William Butler Yeats, and John Boyne in terms of expat Irish identity
- Focuses on Irish expatriatism in non-native English communities often overlooked in Irish Studies
- Contributes to a range of disciplines including literary studies, Irish studies and diaspora studies
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- About this book
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This book examines how Irishness as national narrative is consistently understood ‘from a distance’. Irish Presidents, critics, and media initiatives focus on how Irishness is a global resource chiefly informed by the experiences of an Irish diaspora predominantly working in English, while also reminding Irish people ‘at home’ that Irish is the 'national tongue'. In returning to some of Ireland’s major expat writers and international diplomats, this book examines the economic reasons for their migration, the opportunities they gained by working abroad (sometimes for the British Empire), and their experiences of writing and governing in non-native English speaking communities such as China and Hong Kong. It argues that their concerns about belonging, loneliness, the desire to buy a place ‘back home’, and losing a language are shared by today’s generation of social network expatriates.
- About the authors
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Michael O’Sullivan is Associate Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has worked for universities in Ireland, the UK, the US, Japan and Hong Kong. He has published widely in Irish Studies and in the humanities. Recent books include The Humanities and the Irish University and The Incarnation of Language: Joyce, Proust and a Philosophy of the Flesh.
- Reviews
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“In the field of Irish Studies, finding a new perspective can often be difficult; and this is especially true of issues like the Diaspora and the experience of immigration and emigration. In Irish Expatriatism, Language and Literature, Michael O’Sullivan has achieved exactly such a fresh perspective. This excellent and perceptive study focuses on writers who typically regarded their migrations as periods of non-permanent residence abroad for economic reasons in professions their societies often aligned with cultural capital. For this reason their migratory personas have most often been described as emigrants and expats. O’Sullivan traces what might be termed epistemological migrancy, tracing feelings such as loneliness, a constant state of (un)belonging, the desire to buy property ‘back home’, and the loss of a language.” (Dr Eugene O’Brien, University of Limerick, Ireland)
- Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Introduction
Pages 1-57
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Swift: The Disgruntled Expat ‘at Home’ Plays with a Language of Racial Othering
Pages 59-77
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Goldsmith: The Irish Expat in London as Chinese Philosopher
Pages 79-96
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Boland: Can the Expat Find a “Home” in Language?
Pages 97-108
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Yeats: The Expat Buys Property ‘Back Home’
Pages 109-126
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Irish Expatriatism, Language and Literature
- Book Subtitle
- The Problem of English
- Authors
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- Michael O'Sullivan
- Series Title
- New Directions in Irish and Irish American Literature
- Copyright
- 2018
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Copyright Holder
- The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
- eBook ISBN
- 978-3-319-95900-9
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-319-95900-9
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-3-319-95899-6
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- VI, 228
- Number of Illustrations
- 3 b/w illustrations
- Topics
