The Autobiography of the Irish in Britain: A Critical Anthology

散居海外的爱尔兰人文学在爱尔兰研究中仍然是一个被边缘化的领域，在有影响力的选集和文学史中很少出现。我的批评文集将是这类作品中的第一本，被认为是对除了最受人尊敬的爱尔兰移民作家之外的所有人的典型衰落的重大纠正，主要是詹姆斯·乔伊斯和塞缪尔·贝克特，他们的标志性地位往往掩盖了不太知名的人物的成就。我的选集的具体焦点是自1700年以来在英国的第一代、第二代和第三代爱尔兰作家的自传体作品，其中存在着大量和丰富多样的语料库，既有出版的，也有未出版的。这些作家中的许多人，尽管不是全部，都属于文学下层阶级，传统上被批评家和正典制定者忽视，并被民粹主义和高雅文学所掩盖。我的书将通过呈现70多个按主题安排的节选，使这些被遗忘的作者的作品对学术和普通读者都是易懂的，每个节选都有详细的批注和前言。这本选集还将以一篇内容丰富的背景导论为特色，概述自1700年以来爱尔兰移民到英国的情况，探索移民作家对自传的使用，并分析三个世纪以来爱尔兰移民文学的主导主题和比喻。这本书还将包含关键历史事件和文学出版物的全面年表。这一文学检索行动的基础是两个相互关联的中心目标：(A)通过开展必要的文本整理、选择、注释和批判性评价工作，纠正长期以来和无端忽视爱尔兰文学传统的一个重要方面；以及(B)通过突出爱尔兰人自传身份的动态和差异化的性质，以及他们不同的社会经历、活动、态度和抱负，挑战英国人作为非文学民族的公认观点。这项创新的研究项目建立在我在爱尔兰移民写作领域发表的研究成果的基础上，将增加我们对爱尔兰移民文学文化的性质和范围的了解，并扩大我们对不同类别移民使用自传的理解。此外，该项目将通过促进自觉地认为自己和/或被他人视为属于这一传统的作家的主张，为关于爱尔兰文学正典的构成的新对话奠定基础。通过考察自传在移民身份形成和表现中的作用，我的研究不仅对那些对爱尔兰侨民过程和身份感兴趣的人有潜在的好处，而且对研究同源侨民文化的学者也有潜在的好处。

The literature of the Irish diaspora remains a marginalised field within Irish Studies, one which is rarely represented in influential anthologies and literary histories. My critical anthology, which will be the first of its kind, is envisaged as a significant corrective to the canonical effacement of all but the most critically esteemed of Irish migrant authors, chiefly James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, whose iconic status has tended to obscure the achievement of lesser known figures. The specific focus of my anthology is the autobiographical writings of first-, second- and third-generation Irish writers in Britain since 1700, of which there exists a substantial and richly varied corpus in both published and unpublished forms. Many, though by no means all, of these authors belong to a literary underclass which has traditionally been overlooked by critics and canon-makers and overshadowed by populist and highbrow literature. My book will make the work of these forgotten authors accessible to both a scholarly and a general readership by presenting over 70 thematically arranged extracts, each one thoroughly annotated and prefaced by a detailed critical headnote. The anthology will also feature a substantial contextualising introductory essay which will provide a synoptic overview of Irish emigration to Britain since 1700, explore the uses of autobiography by migrant writers, and analyse the dominant themes and tropes of Irish migrant literature across three centuries. The book will also contain a comprehensive chronology of key historical events and literary publications. This act of literary retrieval is underpinned by two central interrelated objectives: (a) to redress the long-standing and unwarranted neglect of an important dimension of Ireland's literary tradition by carrying out the necessary work of textual recuperation, selection, annotation and critical appraisal; and (b) to challenge received views of the Irish in Britain as an unliterary people by foregrounding the dynamic and differentiated nature of their autobiographical identities, as well as their varied social experiences, activities, attitudes and aspirations.This innovative research project, which builds on my published research in the field of Irish migrant writing, will increase our knowledge of both the nature and extent of Irish diasporic literary cultures, and extend our understanding of the uses of autobiography by different categories of migrants. In addition, the project will prepare the ground for a fresh dialogue about the constitution of the Irish literary canon by advancing the claims of writers who self-consciously see themselves and/or are seen by others as belonging to that tradition. Through its examination of the role of autobiography in the formation and representation of migrant identities, my research will be of potential benefit not only to those interested in Irish diasporic processes and identities, but also to scholars working on cognate diasporic cultures.