The Question of Irish Identity in the Writings of William Butler Yeats and James Joyce

Rating:
Summary: European Dimensions of Irishness
Review: This is a brilliant book. It's the first time I've read about the politics of Irish literature written in this way, and I've read a lot of books about Yeats and Joyce, as well as some theory. However, here, the fusion of both creates a work which is part of a new way of looking at Irishness along the lines of Gibbons, Kearney and Lloyd, though O'Brien would not be in complete agreement with some of their ideas. His discourse, however, is parallel to that of these writers. It's a different, more challenging, kind of Irish studies.
It's a difficult argument with a lot of complex theory coming at you from every angle. He makes use of Derrida, Levinas and Adorno to create the structure through which he views the writings of Yeats and Joyce, and their constructions of Irishness. In some ways, this is really two books, with an analysis of the theoretical difficulties of the creation of structures of identity as well as an application of this model to the work of Yeats and Joyce.

But, O'Brien writes clearly and some of the more arcane practitioners of critical and literary theory could take lessons from his style and argument. He discusses Joyce and Yeats in the context of their time, and then shows how they transcend that context through a placement of identity within an imaginary European context. He makes connections between Yeats and joyce (who are often seen as being at two different ends of the spectrum) and sees both as offering different but related perspectives on identity.
His close readings are acute and there is plenty of quotation.
It's a scholarly book, very good for postgraduates and people working in the field. perhaps only the brighter undergrads should attempt it.
Irish studies has needed this theoretical input for some time and it's good to see what we might call "high theory" being applied to such canonical figures.
It's a first book (I gather from the acknowledgments, and as such, is a stunning debut. I look forward to reading more, and from the Amazon search, it seems there are more on the way!