Across the margins: cultural identity and change in the Atlantic archipelago

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. The concept of 'margins' denotes geographical, economic, demographic, cultural and political positioning in relation to a perceived centre. This book aims to question the term 'marginal' itself, to hear the voices talking 'across' borders and not only to or through an English centre. The first part of the book examines debates on the political and poetic choice of language, drawing attention to significant differences between the Irish and Scottish strategies. It includes a discussion of the complicated dynamic of woman and nation by Aileen Christianson, which explores the work of twentieth-century Scottish and Irish women writers. The book also explores masculinities in both English and Scottish writing from Berthold Schoene, which deploys sexual difference as a means of testing postcolonial theorizing. A different perspective on the notion of marginality is offered by addressing 'Englishness' in relation to 'migrant' writing in prose concerned with India and England after Independence. The second part of the book focuses on a wide range of new poetry to question simplified margin/centre relations. It discusses a historicising perspective on the work of cultural studies and its responses to the relationship between ethnicity and second-generation Irish musicians from Sean Campbell. The comparison of contemporary Irish and Scottish fiction which identifies similarities and differences in recent developments is also considered. In each instance the writers take on the task of examining and assessing points of connection and diversity across a particular body of work, while moving away from contrasts which focus on an English 'norm'

"Across the margins offers a comparative, theoretically informed analysis of the cultural formation of the Atlantic Archipelago. In its overall conception and in specific contributions (including an introductory essay), this collection demonstrates the benefits of working across the disciplines of history, geography, literature and cultural studies, but also presents new configurations of cultural forms hitherto associated with specifically national and sub-national literatures. The essays, from both established and new scholars working in the fields of British, Irish and comparative cultural studies, addresses broad questions raised by the interface between language, gender, sexuality and ethnicity in relation to marginal identities, but also includes specific genre-based case studies on contemporary poetry, fiction, drama, popular music and art. This format recognises the importance of specific concerns which emerge from different geographical locations, but also encourages movement beyond traditional formations of national cultures. Responding to recent constitutional developments in Great Britain and Ireland, it explores their implications both for the cultural negotiations of marginality and for established critical paradigms. It is therefore of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and academics working in the areas of comparative literature, postcolonial theory, Irish, Scottish and Welsh studies, and British political/cultural studies"--Publisher's description

"Across the margins offers a comparative, theoretically informed analysis of the cultural formation of the Atlantic Archipelago. In its overall conception and in specific contributions (including an introductory essay), this collection demonstrates the benefits of working across the disciplines of history, geography, literature and cultural studies, but also presents new configurations of cultural forms hitherto associated with specifically national and sub-national literatures. The essays, from both established and new scholars working in the fields of British, Irish and comparative cultural studies, addresses broad questions raised by the interface between language, gender, sexuality and ethnicity in relation to marginal identities, but also includes specific genre-based case studies on contemporary poetry, fiction, drama, popular music and art. This format recognises the importance of specific concerns which emerge from different geographical locations, but also encourages movement beyond traditional formations of national cultures. Responding to recent constitutional developments in Great Britain and Ireland, it explores their implications both for the cultural negotiations of marginality and for established critical paradigms. It is therefore of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and academics working in the areas of comparative literature, postcolonial theory, Irish, Scottish and Welsh studies, and British political/cultural studies"--Publisher's description

Across the margins offers a comparative, theoretically informed analysis of the cultural formation of the Atlantic Archipelago. In its overall conception and in specific contributions (including an introductory essay), this collection demonstrates the benefits of working across the disciplines of history, geography, literature and cultural studies, but also presents new configurations of cultural forms hitherto associated with specifically national and sub-national literatures. The essays, from both established and new scholars working in the fields of British, Irish and comparative cultural studies, addresses broad questions raised by the interface between language, gender, sexuality and ethnicity in relation to marginal identities, but also includes specific genre-based case studies on contemporary poetry, fiction, drama, popular music and art. This format recognises the importance of specific concerns which emerge from different geographical locations, but also encourages movement beyond traditional formations of national cultures. Responding to recent constitutional developments in Great Britain and Ireland, it explores their implications both for the cultural negotiations of marginality and for established critical paradigms. It is therefore of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and academics working in the areas of comparative literature, postcolonial theory, Irish, Scottish and Welsh studies, and British political/cultural studies.