Irish Orientalism
A Literary and Intellectual History

Joseph Lennon (Author)

9780815631644

Paperback / softback, published 4 August 2008

512 pages, 11 black and white illustrations
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm, 0.737 kg

Original, provocative, and compelling. Its central thesis - that a tradition of Irish contact, imagined or real, existed with Asia and North Africa from the ninth century to the present - is startling." - New Hibernia Review

"The author's exhaustive research is evident and his manner of presentation... engages the reader." - Choice

"A fascinating read, inaugurating its subject with style and substance and opening a whole new critical conversation." - Irish University Review

Centuries before W. B. Yeats wove Indian, Japanese, and Irish forms together in his poetry and plays, Irish writers found kinships in Asian and West Asian cultures. This book maps the unacknowledged discourse of Irish Orientalism within Ireland's complex colonial heritage.