James Joyce, Rural Ireland and Modernity: Beyond the Pale

by Niall Ó Cuileagáin

Overview

James Joyce, Rural Ireland, and Modernity: Beyond the Pale offers a fundamental reappraisal of the dominant Dublin-centric readings of James Joyce by delving into his depiction of rural Ireland. The title takes its name from ‘the Pale’, the area around Dublin that has historically been most subject to British influence. As the first full-length study of its kind, it shows how Joyce, often considered the urban modernist par excellence, in fact went beyond this particular pale in his work. This monograph takes its place alongside other recent criticism relating to ‘alternative modernities’ by foregrounding rurality as a vital context to any discussion of modernity. An inherently interdisciplinary work, this book draws on theories relating to postcolonialism, ecocriticism and cultural geography, and includes chapters on cosmopolitanism/provincialism, the Irish peasantry, Dublin’s semi-rurality, and Joyce’s literal and literary journeys west.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399532808
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	05/31/2025
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Niall Ó Cuileagáin is from the west of Ireland and received his PhD from UniversityCollege London in 2022. His research has been published in James Joyce in Italy, the Dublin James Joyce Journal and the Review of Irish Studies in Europe. In 2020, he co-edited the ‘Nostalgia’ issue of Moveable Type, the UCL English Department’s peer-reviewed journal. Beyond Joyce, his other research interests centre around Irish literature of the twentieth century more broadly, particularly as relating to rural matters.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations

Introduction: Within, Upon and Beyond the Pale

Part I. Politics and People
1. ‘The West Shall Shake the East Awake’: James Joyce and Rural Modernity
2. ‘Ruric or Cospolite’: Cosmopolitans and Provincials in Joyce
3. ‘Sing the Peasantry’: Joyce’s Peasantry from Stephen Hero to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Part II. Place and Peregrinations
4. Rus in Urbe: Where Rural Meets Urban in Joyce’s Dublin
5. Journeys Westward: Travel Writing, Geography and Joyce’s Cultural Landscapes
6. The ‘Geoglyphy’ of Finnegans Wake: Provincial Division and Unity atop the Hill of Uisneach

Coda: Beyond the Pale, Beyond Joyce

Bibliography
Index