THE POLITICS OF IRISH WRITING Edited by Kateřina Jenčová, Michaela Marková, Radvan Markus and Hana Pavelková Prague Centre for Irish Studies, Charles University 2010 Copyright © Kateřina Jenčová, Michaela Marková, Radvan Markus and Hana Pavelková, 2010 Copyright © of individual works remains with the authors Academic readers: Prof. Margaret Kelleher, Prof. Shaun Richards All rights reserved. This book is copyright under international copyright conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the copyright holders. Requests to publish work from this book should be directed to the publishers. Cataloguing in Publication Data The Politics of Irish Writing. Edited by Kateřina Jenčová, Michaela Marková, Radvan Markus and Hana Pavelková.—1st ed. p. cm. ISBN (pb)978-80-254-6151-8 1. Irish Studies. 2. Irish Literature. I. Jenčová Kateřina, Marková Michaela, Markus Radvan, Pavelková Hana. II. Title. Printed in the Czech Republic by HRG, s.r.o., Litomyšl. Cover design by Andrea Jandová. Copy editor Linda Jayne Turner. Typeset by OP. ISBN 978-80-254-6151-8 CONTENTS Acknowledgements 6 Foreword 7 Introduction 9 IRISH CLASSICS THROUGH NEW PRISMS Adam Putz Continental Thinking, Continental Living: W.B. Yeats, James Joyce and Cultural Politics of Appropriating Shakespeare 14 David Vichnar “Corrupt Paris, Virgin Dublin”: Joyce’s Tale of Two Cities 27 Eoghan Smith After Joyce and Beckett: Art and Authenticity and Politics in the Fiction of John Banville 36 COLONIZED ISLAND, DECOLONIZED MINDS? Giulia Bruna “I Like Not the Rags from My Mother Country for to Tickle the Sentiments of Manchester”: Synge’s Subversive Practice in In the Congested Districts 46 Katrina Morgan “English in Taste, in Words and Intellect”: An Investigation into the Politics of the Irish National School Books 57 Ciaran O’Neill Pearse, Parnell or the Priests? The Politics of Identity in the Irish Schoolboy Novel 69 FACES OF IRISH NATIONALISM Maciej Ruczaj Liturgy and Revolution: Two Plays by Patrick Pearse and Translatio Sacrii 78 Anna Pilz “Through Egyptian Spectacles”: Lady Gregory, George Bernard Shaw and Anti‐Colonial Criticism 90 Barry Sheils From Dignity to Beauty: Aesthetics, Revolution and the Problem of Reception in “Easter 1916” 99 WOMEN WRITERS: REVIVAL AND AFTER Whitney Standlee Katharine Tynan’s Novels and the Politics of Ireland’s “Long Gestation,” 1890‐1916 109 Theresa Wray The Quest for Flora: Who Is She? Establishing One Woman’s Place in Mary Lavin’s The Becker Wives 118 CROSSING THE DIVIDE: NORTHERN IRISH PROSE BEFORE THE TROUBLES Guy Woodward History, Nationalism and The Emperor of Ice Cream 129 Michaela Marková Janet McNeill’s Fictions of Northern Irish Protestant Identity 140 Niall Carson Seán O’Faoláin, The Bell and Northern Ireland 148 MUSES AMIDST ARMS: WRITERS’ RESPONSES TO THE NORTHERN CONFLICT Radvan Markus “The Half‐Built, Half‐Derelict House”: Interpretation of the 1798 Rebellion in Stewart Parker’s Northern Star 156 Naomi Banks “Adequate to Our Predicament?”: In Search of a Northern Irish Political Elegy 166 BETWEEN HOME AND BEYOND THE SEA: CONTEMPORARY IRISH POETRY Daniela Theinová “Letting in the Light of Laughter”: Traditional Iconic Images of the Feminized Land in the Hands of Contemporary Poets 177 Eleanor Chatburn “Echo‐Prolonging Poet”: The Politics of Intertextuality in the Poetry of Derek Mahon 188 Maren Kratz “The Canto of Ulysses”: Dante and Contemporary Irish Poetry 198 THE SEARCH FOR NEW SPACES: CONTEMPORARY IRISH FICTION Tea Raše C/Kynicism as a Way of Exploring Third Space in Philip Ó Ceallaigh’s Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse 207 Kateřina Jenčová A Pilgrim in Ireland: A Quest for Home: An Adumbration of the Irish‐Canadian Identity Narrative 216 NIGHTMARISH VISIONS ON STAGE: CONTEMPORARY IRISH DRAMA Hana Pavelková Unreliable Storytellers on Stage: Faith Healer, Baglady and Not I 224 Ester Žantovská Shock, Gloom and Laughter: Contemporary Irish Black Comedy 233 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It would not have been possible to compile and publish this volume without the help of many people. We would like to express our sincere thanks to all participants of The Politics of Irish Writing conference that took place in Prague on 18‐19 September 2009, providing inspiration and incentive also for this collection of essays. In addition, grateful acknowledgement is due to our academic readers, Prof. Margaret Kelleher of NUI Maynooth, Ireland, and Prof. Shaun Richards of Staffordshire University, UK, for their valuable suggestions, as well as to Linda Jayne Turner for careful copy‐editing. Our immense thanks go to Dr Ondřej Pilný, Director of the Centre for Irish Studies at Charles University, Prague, for his advice and relentless help with the organization of the conference and the publication of this book. The editing and publication of this volume has been supported from a grant awarded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland. FOREWORD Irish studies has entered the new millennium as a vibrant area of research characterized by a wide variety of methodological approaches. The need for an increased interdisciplinarity and strengthening of the role of critical and cultural theory has been generally recognized by centres for Irish studies, international associations and individual scholars alike; nevertheless, the fact remains that most Irish studies programmes, regardless of their geographical location, still focus largely on the traditional disciplines of literary studies on the one hand, and history and politics on the other. This situation is not necessarily to be seen as either a weakness or a strength. It should, however, serve as a strong indicator of the value of close contact between various practitioners in Irish studies. If interdisciplinarity is not to be taken merely as a buzzword, and although it may often be difficult to develop in the context of a single institution or association, scholars need to work on building up networks in order to facilitate long‐term cooperation and exchange of ideas. The input of young researchers is of crucial importance in this process. However, funding for doctoral students in particular has been repeatedly highlighted as a general problem in developing Irish studies, together with the scarcity of forums where discussion of innovative work in progress can take place and new points of collaboration can be established. The tradition of the New Voices in Irish Criticism conferences inaugurated in 1999 stands as a remarkable model to follow, but it has sadly remained almost unique in its effort. In its modest effort to improve the situation and provide a venue in continental Europe, the Prague Centre for Irish Studies was pleased 8 to take this initiative last autumn and host an international conference for young scholars in literary studies, which forms the core of its research activities. The conference under the umbrella theme of The Politics of Irish Writing was geared towards the publication of an edited collection of essays on the topic. It is my pleasure to present the volume to current and potential members of the international Irish studies community now. The book is marked both by the diversity and the originality of approaches to canonical authors and texts, ones who are often neglected, and recent writing alike, and quite eloquently demonstrates the potential of the up‐and‐coming generation of Irish studies scholars. I would like to express heartfelt gratitude on behalf of all participants in the Politics of Irish Writing project to the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Ireland to the Czech Republic for their understanding, enthusiasm and vital support. Finally, I am delighted to add that since the inception of our project, an intensive seminar for international PhD students has been launched under the auspices of the European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies (EFACIS), with its first round to be held at the Catholic University of Leuven Centre for Irish Studies in Belgium in September 2010. This is a clear sign of the awareness of the need to seriously engage with the ideas of young researchers at European level, and to provide consistent assistance in their work. Our Centre remains committed to further contributing to this process. Ondřej Pilný Centre for Irish Studies Charles University, Prague January 2010 INTRODUCTION The present volume reflects the current issues of what we have termed the politics of Irish writing, whether these arise directly from within the field of Irish studies or from related disciplines. The diversity of the topics covered in this collection of essays illustrates how vibrant the current discussions in Irish studies are, and how debates within specific areas of research interrelate, explicitly or less so, but always to mutual benefit. It is our hope that this book will testify to the strength and vitality of the current research of, in particular, postgraduate students working in Irish studies. Essays grouped in the first section discuss the politics of appropriation with regard to the works of W.B. Yeats, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. First, Adam Putz deals in his contribution with Yeats’s and Joyce’s cultural appropriations of Shakespeare. Putz points out that some views of contemporary criticism concerning this topic are rather reductive and problematic as they fail to engage “subversive Irish appropriations in conversation with Shakespeare criticism.” Putz thus sets out to rectify the pattern that governs Shakespeare’s legacy in Yeats’s and Joyce’s writing. David Vichnar’s essay on “Corrupt Paris, Virgin Dublin” tells, as the subtitle informs us, Joyce’s Tale of Two Cities. Vichnar offers a biographical reading of Joyce’s writing and examines the correlation between the predominant tropes common to Joyce’s life and writing. Discussion of unstable identity and liberation from deterministic history in works by Joyce, Beckett and John Banville is the topic of Eoghan Smith’s contribution, in which he addresses the question of art’s ability to maintain itself as a sovereign entity and analyzes the condition of art in works by the respective authors.