MACMILLAN Irish Expatriatism, Language and Literature: The Problem of English (New Directions in Irish and Irish American Literature)

This book examines how Irishness as national narrative is consistently understood ‘from a distance’. Irish Presidents, critics, and media initiatives focus on how Irishness is a global resource chiefly informed by the experiences of an Irish diaspora predominantly working in English, while also reminding Irish people ‘at home’ that Irish is the 'national tongue'. In returning to some of Ireland’s major expat writers and international diplomats, this book examines the economic reasons for their migration, the opportunities they gained by working abroad (sometimes for the British Empire), and their experiences of writing and governing in non-native English speaking communities such as China and Hong Kong. It argues that their concerns about belonging, loneliness, the desire to buy a place ‘back home’, and losing a language are shared by today’s generation of social network expatriates. Review “In the field of Irish Studies, finding a new perspective can often be difficult; and this is especially true of issues like the Diaspora and the experience of immigration and emigration. In Irish Expatriatism, Language and Literature, Michael O’Sullivan has achieved exactly such a fresh perspective. This excellent and perceptive study focuses on writers who typically regarded their migrations as periods of non-permanent residence abroad for economic reasons in professions their societies often aligned with cultural capital. For this reason their migratory personas have most often been described as emigrants and expats. O’Sullivan traces what might be termed epistemological migrancy, tracing feelings such as loneliness, a constant state of (un)belonging, the desire to buy property ‘back home’, and the loss of a language.” (Dr Eugene O’Brien, University of Limerick, Ireland) From the Back Cover This book examines how Irishness as national narrative is consistently understood ‘from a distance’. Irish Presidents, critics, and media initiatives focus on how Irishness is a global resource chiefly informed by the experiences of an Irish diaspora predominantly working in English, while also reminding Irish people ‘at home’ that Irish is the 'national tongue'. In returning to some of Ireland’s major expat writers and international diplomats, this book examines the economic reasons for their migration, the opportunities they gained by working abroad (sometimes for the British Empire), and their experiences of writing and governing in non-native English speaking communities such as China and Hong Kong. It argues that their concerns about belonging, loneliness, the desire to buy a place ‘back home’, and losing a language are shared by today’s generation of social network expatriates. About the Author Michael O’Sullivan is Associate Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has worked for universities in Ireland, the UK, the US, Japan and Hong Kong. He has published widely in Irish Studies and in the humanities. Recent books include  The Humanities and the Irish University and The Incarnation of Language: Joyce, Proust and a Philosophy of the Flesh.