BALDWIN, KARA, Ph.D. Democratic Experiments: Irish Literature between Nationalism and Modernism. (2017) Directed by Dr. Ben Clarke. 201 pp. The purpose of this research is to examine how Irish literature acts democratically to represent individuals in relation to each other, the nation, and the British Empire. As Ireland’s political system shifted from colony to commonwealth to independent republic, literature helped shape national identity and individual agency. By analyzing literary contributions in Ireland throughout its political transformation, this dissertation reveals the progress and limitations of political and literary attempts to write agency. In its study of agency and concepts of representation, this analysis relies on theoretical concepts developed in postcolonial and cultural studies, specifically those developed by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Jacque Rancière. Their explanations of representation and the demos are placed into conversation with texts that take part in developing identity and agency in Irish literature, including works of the Celtic Revival, James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Flann O’Brien’s At Swim- Two-Birds. Each of these literary texts is examined to identity how they take part in creating – and limiting – democratic agency. While great strides are made in furthering democratic agency by each of these literary texts, this research reveals that individual agency in relation to the nation is complicated. Even so, Flann O’Brien’s novel provides an alternative concept of how democratic agency for individuals can happen in relation to each other and how politics can learn from the dissonance of democratic voices. DEMOCRATIC EXPERIMENTS: IRISH LITERATURE BETWEEN NATIONALISM AND MODERNISM by Kara Baldwin A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 2017 Approved by _______________________ Committee Chair To my mom, whose Irish eyes are always smiling. ii APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation written by Kara Baldwin has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Chair ___________________________ Ben Clarke Committee Members ___________________________ Christian Moraru ___________________________ Scott Romine ____________________________ Date of Acceptance by Committee __________________________ Date of Final Oral Examination iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Ben Clarke for his guidance throughout the development and completion of this work. I also want to thank Dr. Christian Moraru, Dr. Scott Romine, and Dr. Alexandra Schultheis-Moore, my comprehensive exam and dissertation committee members, for their insights on my project and for their great ability to share their knowledge through courses and conversations throughout my studies at UNCG. My interests in the literature discussed in this dissertation developed over a long time and were greatly influenced by the people I encountered throughout my studies, but they really began because of the love and enjoyment that my family holds for literature. Finally, I would have never completed this project without the support and motivational speeches of John Aderholdt. I am forever grateful. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................1 II. LITERARY AND POLITICAL REPRESENTATIONS AND AN EMERGING POSTCOLONIAL IDENTITY ..................................................33 III. NATION AND SELF: LOCATING THE SINGULAR VOICE IN THE BATTLE FOR DEMOCRATIC AGENCY..........................................84 IV. “ALL THINGS STAND APART FROM EACH OTHER:” BUILDING A DEMOCRATIC NATION OF AUTHORITATIVE SELVES ...............130 V. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................175 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................192 v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION As a student at University College, Dublin in 1929, Brian O’Nolan1 vigorously participated in meetings of the Literature and History Society (L&H). In No Laughing Matter, Anthony Cronin describes the L&H as the only society with real tradition at the college and as the place where James Joyce first introduced Stephen Hero and his doctrine of aesthetics (Cronin 46). O’Nolan’s role in these meetings was one of a satirical observer who would not take sides in political discussions, but preferred to interject from his place standing in the doorway (45). As part of the mob looking in on the gathering of the elite group, he would blurt out unsavory nicknames for political leaders or point out the absurdity of politics and how little changes under the control of new regimes. After gaining popularity for his witty interjections, O’Nolan decided to run for office of the L&H against Vivion de Valera, son of Irish President Éamonn de Valera. Prior to university, young de Valera and O’Nolan had attended Blackrock College together and had been educated by John Charles McQuaid, a teacher who perpetuated a style of writing meant “to interest, to amuse, to elevate” (34-7). Even though O’Nolan lost the election to de Valera - and lost handily - he remained a constant critic and participant in 1 Brian O’Nolan is one of many identities used by the writer, along with Brother Barnabas, Myles na gCopaleen, and Flann O’Brien. For the sake of clarity, I use O’Nolan in regards to biographical information and the name used for each published work as he chose, respectively. 1 L&H debates. Losing did not deter him from attending meetings or from finding a way to insert his voice. He returned to his place in the doorway, yelling across the crowded room, interrupting proceedings, and interrogating speakers to everyone’s amusement. From the margins is where O’Nolan felt most comfortable and from where he would continue to speak his mind throughout his career. O’Nolan’s generation at University College, Dublin was “the 1st generation to be educated and to become possible critics of the society they confronted in an independent Ireland” (Cronin 47). O’Nolan disrupted L&H meetings with questions and critiques about how language crafted politics and a new Irish national identity. He questioned concepts of traditionalism and grand narratives of a romantic, unified Ireland. He continued this practice outside of L&H and beyond the student magazines of university. Using various pseudonyms and identities, O’Nolan analyzed the emerging Irish nation through newspaper columns, novels, and other literary pursuits. He donned the persona of Brother Barnabas in editorials and short stories in the student magazine Comhthrom Féinne (57), Myles na gCopaleen for most of his articles in the Protestant-leaning newspaper, The Irish Times (111), and of course, Flann O’Brien as author of novels like At Swim-Two-Birds, The Third Policeman, and The Poor Mouth (89). Each of his personae provides him another viewpoint, another voice to add to the dominant voices that made up the burgeoning nation. Brian O’Nolan is just one of many artists and public voices that talked about how Ireland could be represented (and, perhaps, misrepresented) through literary means. He follows a long line of Irish writers whose works engage and interrogate the political 2 rhetoric shaping the nation. Alongside many momentous political tracts written in the midst of Ireland’s long struggles for independence came poignant pieces of literature that focus on a human struggle: the pursuit of individual agency and autonomy. For instance, orators like Robert Emmet confronted the British Empire’s control over Irish land and people during the 1798 Irish Rebellion through his “Speech from the Dock” on the eve of his execution (Emmet). At the point of partial independence, when Michael Collins, Éamonn de Valera, and members of Sinn Féin composed pamphlets, manifestos, and ultimately the 1922 Irish Free State Constitution, authors of the Celtic Revival, including W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and J.M. Synge joined the cause by creating an Irish identity to progress a unified image of Ireland’s past, present, and future. In contrast, James Joyce confronted the limited world created through their rhetoric and pushed back against the political version of national identity taking shape. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (A Portrait), Joyce returns focus to the individual and the question of how a democratic nation might elevate an “other” to a person with agency. This novel places Stephen and his experiences at the center of the Irish experience, allowing Stephen’s voice to develop within and in contrast to the dominant voices in Ireland at the time. Stephen learns to speak for himself and his agency reveals how a colonized other can become a voice from the demos. Brian O’Nolan follows a long line of writers whose works correspond (intentionally and unintentionally) with the politics of the time. He identifies a prevailing national identity in the political texts shaping the independent Republic of Ireland, and he rejects this identity that does not enact a democratic perspective. A singular concept of 3 national identity took shape with the help of the literature and culture surrounding the independence movement. Just as political leaders grappled with a desperate need for changes in political