Ireland and Scotland: Literature and Culture, State and Nation, 1966-2000 - Oxford English Monographs (Hardback)

Ray Ryan (author)

£125.00

Hardback 344 Pages / Published: 07/02/2002

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Synopsis

While political connections between Ireland and Scotland have been vigorously promoted in recent years, Ray Ryan presents the first sustained, comparative study of literature and culture from both sites. Ryan's focus is on the Irish state and the Scottish nation. How does literature from the Republic create the cultural shape and personality of the Irish state? Through comparison with Scotland, a stateless nation, Ryan argues that crucial themes in Irish culture emerge with new force and clarity: themes such as Republicanism and colonialism, the city and rural divide, and the partition of the island into separate 'southern' and 'northern' spheres. Analysing a broad range of Irish and Scottish literary texts, Ryan shifts attention from the traditionally defined canon of Irish culture, and establishes the relevance of Scotland for any future discussion of Irish cultural contexts. Offering a radical intervention across a range of disciplines, this book is essential reading for all those working on Ireland, on Scotland, and on contemporary English and British culture.

Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198187769
Number of pages: 344
Weight: 518 g
Dimensions: 224 x 144 x 22 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

... as a well-written, insightful book full of interesting ideas, Ireland and Scotland will certainly be of value to scholars of Irish writing. * Irish Studies Review *
Ireland and Scotland raises a number of important issues, but Ryan's focus on the state is particularly valuable, allowing him to make many enlightening points about contemporary Irish life. * Irish Studies Review *
... proffers a nuanced reading of archipelagic affinity and difference and is a landmark monograph in terms of the current development of Irish-Scottish research. * "New Affinities", Irish Review *
It is most salutary to see a whole new generation of writers being granted centre stage in a literary debate dominated for so many decades by the spectres of Joyce, Yeats and Beckett ... this book is to be highly recommended. * Richard Kearney, Irish Times *
The author succeeds in turning academic argument into a very lively business ... The argument is robust, lucid, erudite and challenging. The comparative study of Irish and Scottish writers is most welcome. * Richard Kearney, Irish Times *
This is an excellent book about Ireland which says some astute things about Scotland along the way. * Donny O'Rourke, The Scotsman *
This is a lucid account of our various physical and metaphysical to-ings and fro-ings ... important survey. * Donny O'Rourke, The Scotsman *