Robert Tobin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199641567
- eISBN:
- 9780191738418
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199641567.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
‘How do such people, with brilliant members and dull ones, fare when they pass from being a dominant minority to being a powerless one?’ So asked the Kilkenny man‐of‐letters Hubert Butler (1900‐91) ...
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‘How do such people, with brilliant members and dull ones, fare when they pass from being a dominant minority to being a powerless one?’ So asked the Kilkenny man‐of‐letters Hubert Butler (1900‐91) when considering the fate of Southern Protestants after Irish Independence. As both a product and critic of this culture, Butler posed the question repeatedly, refusing to accept as inevitable the marginalization of his community within the newly established state. Inspired by the example of the Revivalist generation, he challenged his compatriots to approach modern Irish identity in terms complementary rather than exclusivist. In the process of doing so, he produced a corpus of literary essays European in stature, informed by extensive travel, deep reading, and an active engagement with the political and social upheavals of his age. His insistence on the necessity of Protestant participation in Irish life, coupled with his challenges to received Catholic opinion, made him a contentious figure on both sides of the sectarian divide. This study therefore seeks to address not only Butler's remarkable personal career but also some of the larger themes to which he consistently drew attention: the need to balance Irish cosmopolitanism with local relationships; to address the compromises of the Second World War and the hypocrisies of the Cold War; to promote a society in which constructive dissent might not just be tolerated but valued. As a result, by the end of his life Butler came to be recognized as a forerunner of the more tolerant and expansive Ireland of today.Less
‘How do such people, with brilliant members and dull ones, fare when they pass from being a dominant minority to being a powerless one?’ So asked the Kilkenny man‐of‐letters Hubert Butler (1900‐91) when considering the fate of Southern Protestants after Irish Independence. As both a product and critic of this culture, Butler posed the question repeatedly, refusing to accept as inevitable the marginalization of his community within the newly established state. Inspired by the example of the Revivalist generation, he challenged his compatriots to approach modern Irish identity in terms complementary rather than exclusivist. In the process of doing so, he produced a corpus of literary essays European in stature, informed by extensive travel, deep reading, and an active engagement with the political and social upheavals of his age. His insistence on the necessity of Protestant participation in Irish life, coupled with his challenges to received Catholic opinion, made him a contentious figure on both sides of the sectarian divide. This study therefore seeks to address not only Butler's remarkable personal career but also some of the larger themes to which he consistently drew attention: the need to balance Irish cosmopolitanism with local relationships; to address the compromises of the Second World War and the hypocrisies of the Cold War; to promote a society in which constructive dissent might not just be tolerated but valued. As a result, by the end of his life Butler came to be recognized as a forerunner of the more tolerant and expansive Ireland of today.
Daniel Ritchie
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781786941282
- eISBN:
- 9781789629149
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781786941282.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter considers Isaac Nelson’s relationship with Irish nationalism and the Home Rule movement. It looks at the personal, historical, and ideological factors that led to Nelson embracing Irish ...
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This chapter considers Isaac Nelson’s relationship with Irish nationalism and the Home Rule movement. It looks at the personal, historical, and ideological factors that led to Nelson embracing Irish nationalism. Accordingly, it analyses the influence of Lockeanism, Classical Republicanism, and even Romanticism on Nelson’s thinking. The chapter also considers his support for the Land League and Peasant Proprietorship, his unsuccessful campaign to gain election for County Leitrim at the 1880 General Election, and his victory at Mayo for the seat vacated by Charles Stewart Parnell. It then considers his brief career as a Member of Parliament, and the relationship between Nelson’s Presbyterianism and Home Rule. While Nelson was clearly in a minority among his Presbyterian colleagues, this chapter argues that his views were not as idiosyncratic as they may first appear.Less
This chapter considers Isaac Nelson’s relationship with Irish nationalism and the Home Rule movement. It looks at the personal, historical, and ideological factors that led to Nelson embracing Irish nationalism. Accordingly, it analyses the influence of Lockeanism, Classical Republicanism, and even Romanticism on Nelson’s thinking. The chapter also considers his support for the Land League and Peasant Proprietorship, his unsuccessful campaign to gain election for County Leitrim at the 1880 General Election, and his victory at Mayo for the seat vacated by Charles Stewart Parnell. It then considers his brief career as a Member of Parliament, and the relationship between Nelson’s Presbyterianism and Home Rule. While Nelson was clearly in a minority among his Presbyterian colleagues, this chapter argues that his views were not as idiosyncratic as they may first appear.
Paul Bew
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207085
- eISBN:
- 9780191677489
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207085.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, History of Ideas
Going right to the heart of the Irish Question, this book offers a new interpretation of Irish politics in the critical 1912–1916 period. The author re-examines the issues at stake in the home rule ...
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Going right to the heart of the Irish Question, this book offers a new interpretation of Irish politics in the critical 1912–1916 period. The author re-examines the issues at stake in the home rule crisis of 1912–14, arguing that the then leader of constitutional nationalism, John Redmond, possessed a plausible political strategy. Redmond's reputation has suffered from the critiques of those who argue either that he failed to conciliate Unionists, or that he lacked the requisite fighting spirit of militant nationalism. This book contains much that is a sympathetic reconstruction of Redmond's vision, but it also acknowledges the seriousness of the Ulster Unionist case. The author analyses the debate concerning land, economy, religion, language, and national identity in the period, and ends with a discussion of the Easter Rising of 1916 that destroyed Redmond's party. He draws out the political, cultural, and economic implications of this development and examines their continuing effect on Irish history.Less
Going right to the heart of the Irish Question, this book offers a new interpretation of Irish politics in the critical 1912–1916 period. The author re-examines the issues at stake in the home rule crisis of 1912–14, arguing that the then leader of constitutional nationalism, John Redmond, possessed a plausible political strategy. Redmond's reputation has suffered from the critiques of those who argue either that he failed to conciliate Unionists, or that he lacked the requisite fighting spirit of militant nationalism. This book contains much that is a sympathetic reconstruction of Redmond's vision, but it also acknowledges the seriousness of the Ulster Unionist case. The author analyses the debate concerning land, economy, religion, language, and national identity in the period, and ends with a discussion of the Easter Rising of 1916 that destroyed Redmond's party. He draws out the political, cultural, and economic implications of this development and examines their continuing effect on Irish history.
Matthew Schultz
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719090929
- eISBN:
- 9781781707227
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719090929.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
A reconsideration of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (1939) that forecasts Jacques Derrida’s notion of spectrality as a viable theoretical lens for the Twenty-First Century, even as the spectral figure ...
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A reconsideration of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (1939) that forecasts Jacques Derrida’s notion of spectrality as a viable theoretical lens for the Twenty-First Century, even as the spectral figure aids our reinterpretation of Joyce’s text. For Joyce’s corpus, central to Irish literary tradition, celebrates this impurity and offers us insight into contemporary postcolonial novelists’ motivations for and methods of reinvention.Less
A reconsideration of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (1939) that forecasts Jacques Derrida’s notion of spectrality as a viable theoretical lens for the Twenty-First Century, even as the spectral figure aids our reinterpretation of Joyce’s text. For Joyce’s corpus, central to Irish literary tradition, celebrates this impurity and offers us insight into contemporary postcolonial novelists’ motivations for and methods of reinvention.
Alan Burton and Tim O'sullivan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748632893
- eISBN:
- 9780748671144
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748632893.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
In many of their films Dearden and Relph sought to dramatise ethical dilemmas and contradictions which they identified as characteristic of post-war British society. This chapter explores four films, ...
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In many of their films Dearden and Relph sought to dramatise ethical dilemmas and contradictions which they identified as characteristic of post-war British society. This chapter explores four films, emotional melodramas which focus on characters confronting acute ethical and moral issues. The films deal with nationalism and post-war identity, the politics of terrorism, the limits to religious faith and belief and the ethics of ‘brainwashing’ and modern psychology.Less
In many of their films Dearden and Relph sought to dramatise ethical dilemmas and contradictions which they identified as characteristic of post-war British society. This chapter explores four films, emotional melodramas which focus on characters confronting acute ethical and moral issues. The films deal with nationalism and post-war identity, the politics of terrorism, the limits to religious faith and belief and the ethics of ‘brainwashing’ and modern psychology.
