‘The Ends of Ireland’ considers the work of a key group of critics emerging from Ireland through the 1980s and 1990s: Seamus Deane, Luke Gibbons, David Lloyd, W. J. McCormack, Gerardine Meaney and Emer Nolan. As the main representatives of the turn to theory in Irish Studies these critics have examined Irish culture in the light of ideas taken from psychoanalysis, feminism, Marxism and postcolonialism. In a series of incisive yet accessible chapters Carville analyses the way in which these often provocative ideas have been put to work in the Irish context, transforming our understanding of writers like Joyce and Beckett, as well as informing broader debates around nationalism, modernization, memory and historical revisionism. Essential reading for anyone concerned with Irish Studies and its relationship with theory, the issues raised by ‘The Ends of Ireland’ set a new agenda for Irish Studies in the coming times.
