Idea of a Nation

Arthur Clery, a college contemporary and debating opponent of James Joyce, is an unusual figure in Irish history: a supporter of the anti-Treaty cause yet an advocate of the partition of Ireland. He was an outspoken supporter of women’s suffrage and opponent of corporal punishment in schools. For 30 years he commented on Irish life in the Leader , and some of his most engaging and shrewd pieces were reprinted in The Idea of a Nation in 1907. For this edition they are supplemented by other pieces, including the first statement of Clery’s partitionist views, an early review of James Joyce’s Chamber Music , and the ageing and embittered Clery’s final thoughts on the Abbey Theatre.