4 days ago
- James Joyce's political life is often overlooked; he was a lifelong Parnellite, committed to civic, constitutional, and inclusive nationalism.
- Parnell's fall from grace was a pivotal event that shaped Joyce's political consciousness and deep anti-clericalism.
- Joyce was critical of cultural nationalism and the Gaelic League, favoring a modernizing, European-style nation-state over revivalist projects.
- He held socialist and anarchist sympathies but remained a bohemian individualist, skeptical of institutional restraints.
- Joyce's modernist writing, especially his linguistic subversion, was directly influenced by his anti-colonial stance and Irish background.
- The book by Frank Callanan demonstrates that Joyce's nationalism was cosmopolitan and not tribal, offering a rebuttal to simplistic views of nationalism.