Strange Country: Modernity and Nationhood in Irish Writing since 1790

by Seamus Deane

This book identifies the origin, the development and, ultimately, the success of the Irish literary tradition in English as one of the first literatures that is both national and colonial. It demonstrates the remarkable relationships between works as diverse as Joyce's Dubliners and Bram Stoker's Dracula , and the worlds of the French Revolution and the Irish famine. Deane also shows how almost all the activities of Irish print culture--novels, songs, typefaces, historical analyses, poems--struggle within the limits imposed by its inheritance.

Genres: Irish Literature, History, Nonfiction, Ireland

280 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1990

About the author

Seamus Deane was a Northern Irish poet, novelist, critic, and influential intellectual historian whose work left a lasting mark on Irish literature. He earned international recognition with his debut novel Reading in the Dark, a multilayered story that won several major awards and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Although he began as a poet, Deane built a distinguished academic career, teaching in Ireland, the United States, and at the University of Notre Dame, where he became a leading voice in Irish Studies. A founding director of the Field Day Theatre Company, he also shaped critical discourse as editor of the Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing and other landmark projects.

Reviews

[Thomas Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the major texts on irish literature. it's based off deane's clarendon lectures at oxford and it sounds exactly like he did in class. the final chapter on boredom is, oddly enough, the most interesting.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An illuminating read the dissects the Irish literary tradition post 1790 utilising Burke’s Reflections as part of a key discursive framework that reveals conceptions of Irish national identity. Deane’s description of Ireland as a “Strange Country” holds immense staying power, alluding to the idea of Ireland as the mystical “Other” compared to the traditional and established English Society. A must read for anyone interested in topics ranging from eighteenth-nineteenth European history, literary traditions and colonialism.

[Brian Kelly]

Excellent, especially on soil and Burke.