Literature, Partition and the Nation-State : Culture and Conflict in Ireland, Israel and Palestine

An extended study of the social and cultural legacies of state division in Ireland and Palestine. The book examines nationalism and self-determination; the construction of national literatures in the wake of state division; and influential Irish, Israeli and Palestinian writers, film-makers and public intellectuals.

The history of partition in the twentieth century is one steeped in controversy and violence. Literature, Partition and the Nation State offers an extended study of the social and cultural legacies of state division in Ireland and Palestine, two regions where the trauma of partition continues to shape political events to this day. Focusing on the period since the 1960s, when the original partition settlements in each region were challenged by Irish and Palestinian nationalists, Joe Cleary's book contains individual chapters on nationalism and self-determination; on the construction of national literatures in the wake of state division; and on influential Irish, Israeli and Palestinian writers, film-makers and public intellectuals. Cleary's book is a radical and enthralling intervention into contemporary scholarship from a range of disciplines on nations and nationalism. It will be of interest to scholars in Cultural and Post-Colonial Studies, Nations and Nationalism, Irish Literature, Middle East Studies and Modern History.