War Is Not a Map

Irish America, Transnationalism, and Joseph O'Connor'sRedemption Falls

Bibliographic Data

ID3852408
AuthorsSinéad Moynihan (University of Nottingham, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume6
Issue4
Pages358-373
Publication date2008-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative American Studies An International Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1477-5700 • E-ISSN: 1741-2676
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1179/147757008x366385
OpenAlexW2035772819
LanguageEN
References cited10

This essay argues for a transnational reading of Irish novelist Joseph O'Connor's Redemption Falls (2007). It contends that O'Connor's revisiting of the period of the American Civil War and its aftermath begs all sorts of questions regarding Ireland and Irish America's historical and contemporary transnational intercessions and responsibilities. As Ireland underwent a period of unparalleled economic prosperity beginning in the mid-1990s, which most commentators attribute to successive Irish governments' commitment to globalization, it began to face new and pressing challenges in relation to its involvement with the rest of the world, particularly with regard to its stance on neutrality and recent immigrants to Ireland. I conclude that Redemption Falls reveals the complexity of Irish and Irish Americans' relationship to notions of whiteness and (racial) innocence and challenges readers to consider how Ireland will conduct its future relations with the global community both within and beyond its borders

Art · Economic history · Globalization · Immigration · Innocence · Irish · Neutrality · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Prosperity · Sociology · Transnationalism · Gender Studies · History · Irish and British Studies · Law

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