James Joyce, Rural Ireland and Modernity : Beyond the Pale

The first book-length study to consider Joyce’s portrayal of rural Ireland across his oeuvre.

James Joyce, Rural Ireland, and Modernity: Beyond the Pale offers a fundamental reappraisal of the dominant Dublin-centric readings of James Joyce by delving into his depiction of rural Ireland. The title takes its name from ‘the Pale’, the area around Dublin that has historically been most subject to British influence. As the first full-length study of its kind, it shows how Joyce, often considered the urban modernist par excellence, in fact went beyond this particular pale in his work. This monograph takes its place alongside other recent criticism relating to ‘alternative modernities’ by foregrounding rurality as a vital context to any discussion of modernity. An inherently interdisciplinary work, this book draws on theories relating to postcolonialism, ecocriticism and cultural geography, and includes chapters on cosmopolitanism/provincialism, the Irish peasantry, Dublin’s semi-rurality, and Joyce’s literal and literary journeys west.