Decolonisation and Criticism

'This is, without doubt, a valuable and ground-breaking book which not only begins the task of mapping the uncharted territory of modern Irish criticism, but also highlights the extent to which criticism in Ireland is caught up in wider systems of power-it should not be ignored by any serious student of Irish culture.' Irish Literary Supplement 'Begins with a judicious, well-informed survey of what various post-colonial theories have to say about nationalism and decolonisation, before examining how Irish literary criticism has coped with the business of national autonomy ...[and contains] illuminating chapters on the politics of Irish anthologies and periodicals, along with a useful, well-researchd account of some key critical encounters in Irish history.' THES Decolonisation and Criticism investigates the role of literary criticism in the process of Irish decolonisation since the late eighteenth century, with special emphasis on the 1950s. Drawing on the work of both Irish and international commentators - including Edward Said, David Lloyd, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Luke Gibbons - Gerry Smyth seeks to reconfigure the established relations between literature and criticism. Smyth then sets his analysis against a modular theory of decolonisation based on a reading of Irish history from the perspective of contemporary postcolonial and post-structural theory. Engaging with debates in a number of current fields, Decolonisation and Criticism challenges many assumptions and practices of Irish literary history.