Michael Mays, Nation States: The Cultures of Irish NationalismNation States: The Cultures of Irish Nationalism. Michael Mays. Lanham, MD, and Boulder, CO: Lexington Books, 2007. Pp. vii+225.

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Previous articleNext article FreeBook ReviewMichael Mays, Nation States: The Cultures of Irish Nationalism Nation States: The Cultures of Irish Nationalism. Michael Mays. Lanham, MD, and Boulder, CO: Lexington Books, 2007. Pp. vii+225.Andrew MurphyAndrew MurphyUniversity of St. Andrews Search for more articles by this author University of St. AndrewsPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreIn Nation States, Michael Mays seeks to offer an extended history of forms of Irish nationalism, from the postunion period of the early nineteenth century through the beginning of the new millennium. This is a timely project: the success of the final phase of the Northern Irish peace process, coupled with the opening outward of southern Irish identity during the period of the Celtic Tiger boom, has had the effect of breaking the mold of traditional identity politics in Ireland. In the twenty-first century, the island is a very different place than it was twenty, fifty, or a hundred or more years ago, and recent history has brought us to a very useful vantage point from which to look back over two centuries of nationalist identity formation in Ireland.Mays's book is divided into six chapters, arranged more or less chronologically, with each chapter taking up a different phase of identity formation in Ireland. Generally speaking, the chapters provide basic historical background to the historical phase being discussed, attempt to place this history in a larger theoretical framework, and, in most cases, provide a simultaneous reading of a key literary work (or works), such that text and cultural context illuminate each other. While the book leans rather heavily on secondary sources when providing background material, Mays's account of the general history of Irish nationalism is efficient, well written, and engaging. Anyone coming to the topic of Irish nationalism for the first time would certainly find Nation States illuminating and helpful. Mays's accounts of the nationalist projects of Pearse and De Valera are particularly useful, being rich, economical, and intelligent.While the book generally follows a chronological track, it often departs from offering a straightforwardly linear narrative. This is particularly the case in relation to the literary texts discussed by Mays. Thus, in treating the politics of national identity in the nineteenth century, he invokes Brian Friel's Translations (1980), and, in writing about Ulster Unionist conceptions of nationhood, he makes use of Frank McGuinness's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching towards the Somme (1985). The logic of Mays's approach here is clear enough: Friel's play concerns itself with the cultural logistics of the British ordnance survey project in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century and McGuinness dramatizes the consequences of Ulster Unionist involvement in the First World War. In this sense, the texts are relevant to Mays's discussion. But many critics would argue that, as modern texts, they are not particularly useful guides to the historical events that they seek to encounter. Friel in particular has been much criticized for the historical inaccuracies of his work, both in Translations and elsewhere (Making History [1988]—its title notwithstanding—is a prime example). This need not be a problem, of course, if one is simply discussing Friel, but it is, I think, a problem if the point is to use Friel as a way of discussing the identity politics of a particular historical era.The chronological disjunctions are particularly marked in chapter 5 of the study, which begins with material on the early history of the Northern Irish state, then moves to a discussion of Observe the Sons of Ulster, then jumps back to provide what amounts to a deep history of Northern Protestant identity and the emergence of the Orange movement. It is hard not to feel that this material could have been much better handled as a straightforward chronological narrative, with discussion of McGuinness's play being moved forward to a section that could more usefully have placed the text in the context of other recent attempts in the Republic to offer a sympathetic engagement with non-nationalist forms of identity, such as Sebastian Barry's The Steward of Christendom (1995) and A Long Long Way (2005). Nation States is an ambitious book, and Mays certainly deserves praise for the scope of what he attempts here. In general, his scholarship is sure-footed and accurate, though one could pedantically point to one or two very minor lapses here and there, such as his assertion that De Valera's death sentence “was commuted because of his status as a U.S. citizen” (97)—some commentators now suggest that this was not the deciding factor for the British authorities and that the executions were halted because they were felt to have served their purpose. Mays's discussion of Conor Cruise O'Brien is disappointingly thin and suffers from the fact that he fails to explore the full context of O'Brien's career. O'Brien was the author of what amounts to the first study of Irish culture inflected by postcolonial theory: States of Ireland, which, published in 1972, was well ahead of its time in invoking the work of Frantz Fanon in an Irish context. A government minister in Ireland at the height of the Northern Irish conflict, O'Brien controversially introduced legislation banning members of Sinn Féin from the state-run media. By 1996, he had drifted far enough away from his liberal political roots to be willing to join the United Kingdom Unionist Party. Closer attention to the interesting complexities of O'Brien's career might have led Mays to produce a more nuanced assessment of his work, instead of the rather belligerent dismissal he offers.Although the text is generally very poorly proofread, and there are niggling formatting problems throughout, Nation States is a brave and intelligent attempt to tackle a large and important topic in an engaging manner. Students, in particular, will learn much from the author's subtle and well-informed account of Irish culture and history. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Modern Philology Volume 108, Number 4May 2011 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/659246 Views: 27Total views on this site © 2011 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected] Crossref reports no articles citing this article.