Irish Shame - by Seán Kennedy & Joseph Valente (Hardcover)

About the Book

The first edited collection dedicated to the historical specifics of Irish shame.

Book Synopsis

Shame has haunted Ireland since the inception of Irishness itself. As such, it has come to seem an ineluctable modality of Irish life. In fact, the contours of Irish shame have evolved over time, shifting with alterations in their colonial predicament, and in their response, whether complicit or resistant, to economic, political, and cultural dispossession. Irish Shame offers an anatomy of that condition. In twelve essays, it traces the ethnic, religious, biopolitical, psychosocial and neurodiverse parameters of shame as a force in Irish life.

Review Quotes

A well-structured collection that provides not only insightful readings of key literary texts, but also sensitive critiques of Irish culture that help us to understand how and why shame so often undermines human flourishing--Paige Reynolds, The College of the Holy Cross