On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Ireland-James Joyce And
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On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Ireland: James Joyce and Nationalist Historiography Josh Quezada Newman School of English Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin Supervisor: Professor Sam Slote Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2020 Declaration I declare that this thesis has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other university and is entirely my own work. I agree to deposit this thesis in the University’s open access institutional repository or allow the library to do so on my behalf, subject to Irish Copyright Legislation and Trinity College Library conditions of use and acknowledgement. ___________________ Josh Quezada Newman 4 August 2020 Acknowledgments The last four years have been a strenuous but rewarding part of my life. I have been challenged in ways I could not have imagined when I first stepped foot on College Green in 2016. I hope to use the scholarly skills I have developed at Trinity College throughout my career, and I know I have been served well by the institution. I would first and foremost like to thank my supervisor Professor Sam Slote for his consummate erudition and due diligence in guiding me through the dissertation and the program. I would also like to thank Dr. Philip Keel Geheber for reviewing my work. He went out of his way, being based in New York, to provide helpful commentary and suggestions that shaped the final dissertation. I cannot repay him enough. My confirmation examiners, Professors Eve Patten and Philip Coleman, provided excellent feedback that clarified certain issues I had with the dissertation as well as the program that I hope I have remedied. I would also like to acknowledge Professor David Schmid, Professor Ondřey Pilný, Markéta Pospíšilová, Genevieve Sartor, Halila Bayramova, Vincent Deane, and Dr. James Little for their careful and thoughtful criticism of various parts of my work. They all provided invaluable insight and warm, encouraging guidance. Over the years, I have met a number of wonderful people both at and outside of Trinity that got me through some very exacting times. I have also received unfailing encouragement and support from friends back home. My special thanks to Diane Sadler, Brenda Brooks, Dr. Margaret Robson, Lara O’Muirithe, Alexander Jones, Terence Killeen, Bill Pierce, Marion Kelly, Dr. Niamh Farrelly, Clare Malone, Sean O’Connell, Dr. Alison Lacivita, Eugene Grigoriev, Shayan Ghose, Vijay Singh, Eoin McKevitt, Josh Qualiana, Lacie Beverly, Akram Shibly, Mark Labady, Ruben Noel, D. J. Robinson, and Kelly McCormick, all of whom kept me going. I would like to honor the memory of a great Joycean, the late Professor Mark Shechner, who mentored me when I was a student at the University at Buffalo. I sincerely hope this dissertation would have made him proud. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Jay and Rosa, and my brother, Daniel, for their unconditional love, support, and affection that I counted on every single day here. I could not have done this without you. This dissertation is dedicated to you. Summary This dissertation examines James Joyce’s interrogation of nationalist historiography: his reading and interpretation of historical texts and events, predominately of Irish history, before and up to his lifetime that were inherently influenced by nationalism. My argument is that nationalism, which was prominent in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Irish sociopolitical discourse, is crucial in understanding Joyce’s engagement with history. I argue that Joyce was ultimately skeptical of nationalistic interpretations of history, considering them skewed, inaccurate, and deleterious to Ireland. Although he was critical of the various strains of nationalism during his lifetime, his writings demonstrate both a reprimand and an interpolation, both intentional and unwitting, of nationalist historiography. I analyze topics that I believe are either pivotal in understanding Joyce’s historiography or have been hitherto underdeveloped in Joycean scholarship. The dissertation is divided into five sections: an introduction, three chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction provides an overview of the historiographical and theoretical methodologies I will use throughout the dissertation. After outlining the body of research done on historiography and nationalism in Joycean scholarship, I demonstrate my methodologies by discussing Joyce’s early engagement with controversial historical topics, including the Laudabiliter. I then discuss “the Citizen” of the “Cyclops” episode in Ulysses, who I argue exemplifies some of the worst aspects of Irish nationalism and will serve as a basis of comparison for the following sections. My analysis of the Citizen includes a discussion of his various influences, including Michael Cusack and David Patrick “D. P.” Moran, and the character’s egregious interpretation of Irish history. The first chapter focuses on Joyce’s engagement with one of Ireland’s most controversial historical events: the 1798 Rebellion. Analyzing various historical texts and Joyce’s engagement with them, I argue that Joyce accentuates the legacy of the rebellion throughout his work in order to underscore the follies of nationalist historiography and nationalism in general. The 1798 Rebellion is particularly relevant in that it was constantly evoked by Irish nationalists in the nineteenth century to further their sociopolitical agendas to various effects, most of which Joyce considered foolish and athwart to the real development of the Irish people. The second chapter focuses on nationalist historiography in Ireland as compared to those of other nations. Using Arthur Griffith’s The Resurrection of Hungary (1904) as a basis of comparison, I explore the issues and contradictions of Irish nationalist historiography in an increasingly multicultural and globalized world. I examine the historiographical comparisons of Ireland and Hungary as well as ethnic groups such as the Huguenots and the Jews. I argue Joyce’s work demonstrates that nationalist historiography in Ireland faced a number of challenges from the ramifications of globalization, which itself was an outgrowth of imperialism. I also argue that the “Hungarian parallel” Griffith attempted to establish in Resurrection exhibits the pitfalls of comparative nationalist historiography as well as the wider dangers of nineteenth century nationalism throughout Europe. The third chapter focuses on socialist nationalist historiography. I argue that this version of historiography, although imperfect and subject to the same limitations of other nationalist historiographies, bears the closest resemblance to Joyce’s own historiographical methodology. I briefly summarize the emergence of socialism in Ireland and its notable leaders such as James Connolly, Roger Casement, and Thomas Brady before analyzing their respective historical works as well as the ways in which socialist nationalist historiography was evident in Joyce’s treatment of specific historical topics such as the Brehons Laws, the Phoenix Park Murders (1882), and the Second Boer War (1899-1902). The conclusion is a summary of my findings as well as a propositioning of various unresolved issues derived from my research. Abbreviations and Notes on the Text D Joyce, James. Dubliners: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism. Edited by Margot Norris et al., W. W. Norton, 2006. FW Joyce, James. Finnegans Wake. Viking Press, 1988. JJ Ellmann, Richard. James Joyce. Oxford UP, 1982. L Joyce, James. Letters of James Joyce. Edited by Stuart Gilbert and Richard Ellmann, Viking Press, 1966. 3 vols. OCPW Joyce, James. Occasional, Critical and Political Writing. Edited by Kevin Barry. Translated by Conor Deane, Oxford UP, 2008. P Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. Edited by John Paul Riquelme et al., W. W. Norton, 2007. SH Joyce, James. Stephen Hero. Edited by Theodore Spencer, New Directions, 1963. U Joyce, James. Ulysses. Edited by Hans Walter Gabler et al., Vintage Books, 1993. U-A Gifford, Don, with Robert J. Seidman. Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce’s Ulysses. 2nd ed., U of California P, 2008. U-N Slote, Sam, et al. “Notes.” Ulysses, by James Joyce, 3rd ed., Alma Classics, 2017, pp. 553-809. Passages from Ulysses are identified by the episode and line number. Passages from Finnegans Wake are identified by the page and line number. Passages from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are identified by the chapter and line number. Passages from the other texts above are identified by the page number. Only passages not preceded by a reference to the text are identified by an abbreviation. Unless otherwise indicated, italics are from the original text and ellipses are not from the original text. I adhere to the formatting and citation style of the MLA Handbook (8th ed.). Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Rhapsodies About Damn All: The 1798 Rebellion as the Cracked Mirror of Irish Nationalist Historiography 81 Chapter 2 The Hungaro-Hiberno-Hebraic Compromise: Irish Nationalism and the Rest of the World 157 Chapter 3 It’s Land that Produces Everything: Omission, Insertion, and Joyce’s Socialist Historiography 256 Conclusion 343 Works Cited 353 Introduction Newman 1 Introduction The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. –L. P. Hartley, The Go-Between (11) On April 10th, 1921, a young Irishman named Arthur Power approached James Joyce in the Bal Bullier, a dancehall in Paris. Joyce