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

Stylish and elegant. Cleary's book offers innovative and compelling analysis of the political, cultural and intellectual struggles that have issued from the colonial partitions of Ireland and Palestine. Working in the best traditions of postcolonial scholarship, Cleary locates the political and cultural struggles in Ireland and Palestine in a wide and mutually illuminating comparative context without scanting the specificity of individual situations. A remarkably powerful and original piece of work, this book will undoubtedly be read widely, and is sure to contribute to the growing scholarly interest in the problematic legacies of partition. Edward Said
This book is strikingly original. It compares the effects of different partitions--in Ireland, Palestine and Germany--as they exhibit themselves in literature especially. Joe Cleary restores to literary analysis cultural and political dimensions that it had lost. This is a groundbreaking book by a remarkably gifted and powerful writer. It should be read by anyone interested in politics, history or literature and their interrelations. Semus Deane