James Joyce and Nationalism

JAMES JOYCE AND NATIONALISM The writings of James Joyce are usually defined by his critics against Irish separatist nationalism, and his ambivalence towards Ireland is often remarked upon. The notion of a metropolitan’ and a provincial’ Joyce has consistently been put forward as the reason for this apparent contradiction in his writing. But has Joyce been misread as the spokesperson for the metropolis’ and an advocate for modernity? Emer Nolan challenges this largely accepted reading of Joyce, arguing that it is actually a critical clich which is, in fact, untenable. Political nationalism and aesthetic modernism are, she asserts, analogous in many ways. In the process of her argument, she also discusses how modernist art has been misinterpreted by metropolitan critics and theorists, and what role Joyce plays in the debate about feminism and modernism. James Joyce and Nationalism is a timely and groundbreaking work, and an invaluable contribution to Joycean studies.