Introduction: Daniel Corkery as postcolonial critic

Laird, Heather

Introduction: Daniel Corkery as postcolonial critic

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Published Version

Date

2012

Authors

Laird, Heather

Publisher

Cork University Press

Abstract

In the one-paragraph dismissals of Daniel Corkery that are to be found in so many post-1960s studies of Irish history, literary and culture, his analysis and the questions that he posed tend to be disregarded in favour of the very limited solutions that he offered. This chapter reassesses Corkery’s critical writings, situating them within an international context of anti-colonialism and arguing that they offer some valuable insights into the cultural and psychological effects of colonialism. It points out that the central concerns of Corkery’s criticism – language displacement, cultural dislocation, a disconnect between dominant literary forms and local reality, “fractured” identity, education as a colonial tool, the gaps and silences of official historiography, the relationship between settler and native – have, until relatively recently, been the central concerns of postcolonial criticism.

Keywords

Daniel Corkery , Sean O’Faolain , Seán Ó Ríordáin , Irish Ireland , Colonialism , Irish postcolonial criticism

Citation

Laird, H. (2012) 'Introduction: Daniel Corkery as postcolonial critic', Laird, H. (ed.) Daniel Corkery's cultural criticism: Selected writings. Cork: Cork University Press. pp. 1-14.