The Autobiography of the Irish in Britain: A Critical Anthology

爱尔兰侨民的文学在爱尔兰研究中仍然是一个边缘化的领域，很少在有影响力的选集和文学史中出现。我的批评选集，这将是第一次，被设想为一个重要的纠正，除了最受评论界尊敬的爱尔兰移民作家，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鲜为人知的人物的成就。我的选集的具体重点是自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，以出版和未出版的形式。这些作家中的许多人（尽管绝不是全部）属于文学下层阶级，传统上被批评家和经典制造者所忽视，并被平民主义和高雅文学所掩盖。我的书将使这些被遗忘的作者的作品对学术界和普通读者都有意义，通过呈现70多个按主题排列的摘录，每一个都有详细的注释和序言。该选集还将以大量的背景介绍性文章为特色，将提供自1700年以来爱尔兰移民到英国的概况，探索移民作家自传的使用，并分析三个世纪以来爱尔兰移民文学的主导主题和比喻。这本书还将包含一个关键的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）通过进行必要的文本恢复、选择、注释和批评性评价工作，纠正长期以来对爱尔兰文学传统的一个重要方面的无端忽视;和（B）通过突出他们自传体的动态和差异性，挑战英国爱尔兰人作为非文学民族的公认观点。身份，以及他们不同的社会经历，活动，态度和愿望。这个创新的研究项目，它建立在我发表的研究领域的爱尔兰移民写作，将增加我们的知识的性质和程度的爱尔兰流散文学文化，并扩大我们的理解的自传的使用不同类别的移民。此外，该项目将通过推进那些自觉地认为自己和/或被他人视为属于这一传统的作家的主张，为关于爱尔兰文学经典宪法的新对话奠定基础。通过它的自传在移民身份的形成和代表性的作用的检查，我的研究将是潜在的好处，不仅对那些有兴趣在爱尔兰流散的过程和身份，但也对同源流散文化的学者工作。

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Irish writers in Britain since 1700, of which there exists a substantial and richly varied corpus in both published and unpublished forms.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.