National Allegory and Maternal Authority in Anglo-Irish Literature
Mother England, Mother Ireland: National Allegoryand Maternal Authority in Anglo-Irish Literature and Culture, 1880-1922 Andrea Christina Bobotis Greenville, South Carolina MA in English Literature and Language, University of Virginia, 2002 BA in English Literature and Language, Furman University, 1998 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degreeof Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Virginia May,2007 Abstract "Mother England, Mother Ireland" proposes a new way of reading allegories of nation-building and national identity in Anglo-Irish literature at the end of the nineteenth century. I argue that authors who claimed affiliations with both England and Ireland (Maud Gonne, Lady Augusta Gregory, Bram Stoker, and Oscar Wilde) exploited the capacity of allegory to infiltratea range of genres and, in doing so, discovered hidden potential in the links between motherhood and motherland. Examining nonfiction, novels, drama, speeches, and public spectacles, I show how these writers adapted allegorical representations of Ireland as a mother not only to confrontIreland's vexed political and cultural relationship with England, but also to explore cross-cultural links between Ireland and Britain's outlying colonies. ii Table of Contents Introduction: Reconsidering National Allegory 1 Rival Maternities: Maud Gonne, Queen Victoria, and the Reign of the Political Mother 20 Collaborative Motherhood in Lady Gregory's Nonfiction 62 The Princess as Artist: Mother-Daughter Relations in the Irish Allegory of Oscar Wilde's Salome 114 Technologies of the Maternalin Bram Stoker's The Lady of the Shroud 154 Bibliography 190 Endnotes 201 Introduction Reconsidering National Allegory In the late 1880s the Anglo-Irishwoman Fanny Parnellwas at the height of her popularity as an Irish nationalist poet.
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