Irish Culture and Colonial Modernity 18002000: The Transformation of Oral Space [Paperback]

A provocative study of Irish orality in literature, popular culture and politics.David Lloyd brings together manifestations of oral culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, showing how the survival of orality was central both to resistance against colonial rule and to Ireland's modern definition as a postcolonial culture. This study is an important and provocative new interpretation of Irish national culture.David Lloyd brings together manifestations of oral culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, showing how the survival of orality was central both to resistance against colonial rule and to Ireland's modern definition as a postcolonial culture. This study is an important and provocative new interpretation of Irish national culture.From the Famine to political hunger strikes, from telling tales in the pub to Beckett's tortured utterances, the performance of Irish identity has always been deeply connected to the oral. Exploring how colonial modernity transformed the spaces that sustained Ireland's oral culture, this book explains why Irish culture has been both so creative and so resistant to modernization. David Lloyd brings together manifestations of oral culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, showing how the survival of orality was central both to resistance against colonial rule and to Ireland's modern definition as a postcolonial culture. Specific to Ireland as these histories are, they resonate with postcolonial cultures globally. This study is an important and provocative new interpretation of Irish national culture and how it came into being.Introduction: a history of the Irish orifice; 1. Irish hunger: the political economy of the potato; 2. Closing the mouth: disciplining oral space; 3. Counterparts: the public house, masculinity and temperance nationalism; 4. 'Going nowhere': oral space in the cell block; 5. The breaker's yard: from forensic to interrogation modernity; 6. On extorted speech: back to How It Is; Bibliography;lS(