Overview

Subjectivity and Nationhood in Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett: Nietzschean Constellations reconceptualises Friedrich Nietzsche’s position in the intellectual history of modernism and substantively refigures our received ideas regarding his relationship to these Irish modernists. Building on recent developments in new modernist studies, the book demonstrates that Nietzsche is a modernist writer and a modernist philosopher by drawing new parallels between his engagement with established philosophical theories and the aesthetic practices that Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot identified as quintessentially modernist. With specific reference to key Nietzschean philosophemes – eternal recurrence, the Übermensch, transnationalism, cultural paralysis, and ethical perspectivism – it challenges the longstanding assumption that Yeats, who repeatedly acknowledged his admiration for Nietzsche, is the most 'Nietzschean' of these Irish modernists. While showing how both Joyce and Beckett are in many important ways more 'Nietzschean' than Yeats, this interdisciplinary study makes a number of significant and timely contributions to the fields of Irish studies and modernist studies.

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9781836245087

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Reviews

‘Subjectivity and Nationhood in Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett: Nietzschean Constellations by Matthew Fogarty stands as a testament to meticulous research, deep intellectual engagement, and a profound understanding of the intricate interplay between literature and philosophy... Subjectivity and Nationhood in Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett: Nietzschean Constellations emerges as an indispensable addition to the literary and philosophical canon… Fogarty’s book not only enriches the field of literary criticism but also stands as a significant contribution to intellectual history, illuminating the often-hidden interplay between literature and philosophy in the modernist era.’ Hamid Farahmandian, James Joyce Quarterley ‘This is a book of exemplary scholarship that reminds readers that literature is a combination of the factual and the interpretive, that it is first and foremost an intellectual pursuit, that it exists within an historical continuum, and that a multi-perspectival approach is an important tool in reshaping the order of understanding. It is a rewarding study that will surely impact not just on the study of Irish modernism – particularly adding to readings of the transnational dimension of that field, which has been growing in recent years – but Nietzsche studies too, especially in relation to literature.’ Eoghan Smith, Estudios Irlandeses

‘Subjectivity and Nationhood in Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett: Nietzschean Constellations by Matthew Fogarty stands as a testament to meticulous research, deep intellectual engagement, and a profound understanding of the intricate interplay between literature and philosophy... Subjectivity and Nationhood in Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett: Nietzschean Constellations emerges as an indispensable addition to the literary and philosophical canon… Fogarty’s book not only enriches the field of literary criticism but also stands as a significant contribution to intellectual history, illuminating the often-hidden interplay between literature and philosophy in the modernist era.’ Hamid Farahmandian, James Joyce Quarterley

Author Information

Matthew Fogarty is the author of Subjectivity and Nationhood in Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett: Nietzschean Constellations (Liverpool UP, 2023). He has published articles in the Irish Gothic Journal, International Yeats Studies, Modern Drama, the James Joyce Quarterly, and the Journal of Academic Writing. His current book project, Identity Politics and the Jazz Aesthetic: Ethnicity, Gender, and Class in Modern Transatlantic Literature, explores how white writers from Britain and Ireland have used and abused the jazz aesthetic to address formative sociopolitical developments and complex ethical concerns.

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