Once Upon a Time in the West

Aigne, 2018

Icons of Irishness from the Middle Ages to the Modern World, 2012

Estudios Irlandeses

American Literature, 2001

of the publication of this volume. My thanks also to Cleo Paturis and Edgar M. Branch for their kind permission to quote from the published and unpublished writings of James T. Farrell. Thomas N. Brown guided my beginning research in Irish-American studies, and his friendship and wise counsel over more than twenty years have shaped my work and I hope my life as well. I thank him for having read most of this manuscript and for once again helping me to discover what I was trying to say. It is with a sense of great loss that I recall the many kindnesses that I received from the late William V. Shannon. This most generous of men helped me especially to appreciate the work of his friend James T. Farrell. I am grateful to Shaun O'Connell, whose helpful reading of early chapters heartened me at a crucial point in this project. And for their freely given assistance of many sorts during these years, my heartfelt thanks go to

The Cambridge Social History of Modern Ireland, 2017

The long nineteenth century saw the formation of modern Irish memory, although the nature of its novelty is open to debate, as it maintained a continuous dialogue with its traditional roots. A preliminary period from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century has been identified by Joep Leerssen – following the German school of history of concepts (Begriffsgeschichte) pioneered by Reinhart Koselleck – as a Sattelzeit, which accommodated the Anglicisation and modernisation of what had formerly been a predominantly Gaelic society. In particular, antiquarian fascination with the distant past played a key role in re-adapting native bodies of knowledge for Anglo-Irish readerships, whether in the music collecting of Edward Bunting, the song translations of Charlotte Brooke or the writings of Samuel Ferguson, to name but a few. This concept of cultural transition is useful for understanding the changes in memorial practices, which came about through reinvention, rather than simple invention and imposition from above, of Irish traditions. A record of remembrance in the countryside at the time of the transformation was captured between 1824 and 1842 by the Ordnance Survey, which, under the supervision of the noted antiquarian George Petrie, sent out fieldworkers, among them the illustrious Gaelic scholars John O'Donovan and Eugene O'Curry, to compile detailed memoirs of local customs, originally designed as supplements for the topographical maps. Characteristically, the agents of change also engaged in documentation and preservation of traditional memory. Whereas the loss of Irish language has been poignantly decried by Alan Titley as ‘the Great Forgetting’, the modernisation of Ireland was not a straightforward linear progression from a largely Irish-speaking traditional culture, steeped in memory, to an English-speaking capitalist society, supposedly clouded by amnesia. It should be acknowledged that the Irish language maintained a substantial presence well into the nineteenth century. Moreover, during the cultural revival of the fin de siècle, language enthusiasts such as Douglas Hyde collected folk traditions in Irish in order to make them available as a resource for a modern national society. Overall, the increase in literacy in English did not necessarily eradicate oral traditions. Examination of popular print reveals that it functioned as a vehicle for reworking memories, which then fed back into oral culture.

Etudes Irlandaises, 2011

In this project I trace Irish ethnic identity formation in the United States and the creation of the Irish-American narrative throughout the twentieth century as reflected in Irish-American life-writing-autobiographical or at least semi-autobiographical fiction and memoir-from just after World War II to the early 2000s. All of the works included in this study examine in some way the question of what it means to be Irish in America. The authors in this study collectively show how an Irish identity was given up in America and eventually pieced back together again. Some of the original elements remained, but others were forgotten, misunderstood, or invented. The Irish-American narrative tells of a rise from poverty and oppression to American comfort and respectability. There is pride in this rise, but there is also loss. I argue that ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank Ryan Trimm for his guidance through this project. His suggestions for theoretical readings provide the underpinnings for much of the work I do related to postcolonialism, nation, home, and memory. I am thankful, too, that Naomi Mandel agreed to join my committee. She added the much-needed perspective of ethnic identity formation in the United States, as well as transgenerational trauma. Detailed feedback on my chapters from both Ryan and Naomi has led to a more focused and well-supported argument. To Scott Molloy for his expertise on Edward McSorley's Our Own Kind, and the position of the Irish in America in the twentieth century, I also owe my gratitude. Finally, I could not have started this project without Eve Sterne's reading list on Irish-American history. Thanks as well go to Michelle Caraccia for helping me navigate the dissertation process at URI. My education on Irish Studies has happened outside the bounds of any one university. I am forever grateful to Phil O'Leary, a mentor since my undergraduate days at Boston College, for still responding to my e-mails after all of these years, and for sharing his wisdom, humor, and vast knowledge. I came into this project with an idea on the symbolic nature of Irish-American identity at the end of the twentieth century, and the seemingly contradictory idea that Irish Americans still consider Ireland home. Both of those ideas came from Michael Patrick MacDonald's memoirs of growing up in South Boston, so I am thankful for his writing and correspondence. Those ideas flourished in the presence of my colleagues in the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS), many of whom have become friends. Parts of all of these chapters were previewed and refined at ACIS conferences. Thanks go to Jim Rogers v for his mentorship, and his suggestion that I look at Elizabeth Cullinan's work.

Irish Studies Review, 2012

The Irish in us: Irishness, performativity, and popular …, 2006

Radical History Review 143, 2022

This special issue of Radical History Review showcases new approaches to the Irish historical experience, embracing new global histories of capitalism, empire, colonialism, race, and gender.