Ireland and Scotland
Literature and Culture, State and Nation 1966-2000
Published on 7. February 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
342 pages
978-0-19-924712-7 (ISBN)
Description
While political connections between Ireland and Scotland have been vigorously promoted in recent years, Ray Ryan presents the first sustained, comparative study of literature and culture from both sites. Ryan's focus is on the Irish state and the Scottish nation. How does literature from the Republic create the cultural shape and personality of the Irish state? Through comparison with Scotland, a stateless nation, Ryan argues that crucial themes in Irish culture emerge with new force and clarity: themes such as Republicanism and colonialism, the city and rural divide, and the partition of the island into separate 'southern' and 'northern' spheres. Analysing a broad range of Irish and Scottish literary texts, Ryan shifts attention from the traditionally defined canon of Irish culture, and establishes the relevance of Scotland for any future discussion of Irish cultural contexts. Offering a radical intervention across a range of disciplines, this book is essential reading for all those working on Ireland, on Scotland, and on contemporary English and British culture.
Reviews / Votes
Ryan saves the best for last. The final chapter on Colm Toibin has a brilliant critique of Francis Fukuyama's premature announcement of the "end of history". Willy Maley, The Herald (Glasgow) There's no doubting the richness of Ryan's range of reference ... he treads nimbly the fine line between philosophy and fiction ... overall Ryan wears his scholarship lightly, combining rigorous analysis of texts with glib references to popular culture. Willy Maley, The Herald (Glasgow) Ryan is to be congratulated for raising questions of class, citizenship, civic virtue and republicanism (without the nationalism), through readings of his famous five. Willy Maley, The Herald (Glasgow) Ray Ryan's book is the first major monograph to address the cultural and political interaction of stateless nation and nationless state, and it does so with nerve and verve. Willy Maley, The Herald (Glasgow) It is most salutary to see a whole new generation of writers being granted centre stage in a literary debate dominated for so many decades by the spectres of Joyce, Yeats and Beckett ... this book is to be highly recommended. Richard Kearney, Irish Times The author succeeds in turning academic argument into a very lively business ... The argument is robust, lucid, erudite and challenging. The comparative study of Irish and Scottish writers is most welcome. Richard Kearney, Irish Times This is an excellent book about Ireland which says some astute things about Scotland along the way. Donny O'Rourke, The Scotsman This is a lucid account of our various physical and metaphysical to-ings and fro-ings ... important survey. Donny O'Rourke, The ScotsmanMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Illustrations
index
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 135 mm
Weight
405 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-924712-7 (9780199247127)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?; 1. THE CONTOURS OF REPUBLICANISM: WILLIAM MCILVANNEY AND THE GEOGRAPHY OF DIFFERENCE; 2. Being in Between: Iain Crichton Smith and Scottish Colonial History; 3. THE REPUBLIC AND IRELAND: DERMOT BOLGER, 'BOLGERISM', AND DUBLIN; 4. Between the Falls Road and Kildare Street: Thomas McCarthy and the Location of Memory; 5. Colm Toibin, Partition, and the Ends of History; CONCLUSION; INDEX