Irish anthropocene : literature, climate change, sovereignty / Malcolm Sen

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sen, Malcolm, Author.

Series:

Irish studies (Syracuse, N.Y.)

Irish studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Irish authors--History and criticism.

English literature.

Climatic changes in literature.

Sovereignty in literature.

National characteristics, Irish, in literature.

Human ecology in literature.

Literature and society--Ireland.

Literature and society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

First edition

Place of Publication:

Syracuse, New York : Syracuse University Press, 2026

Summary:

"In Irish Anthropocene, Malcolm Sen traces the ways in which contemporary Irish literature responds to climate breakdown. Drawing upon concepts of sovereignty, precarity, and disaster, Sen examines Irish literary works to reveal how they engage with the entangled relations between ecology, economy, and politics. Irish writers not only critique the association of greenness with Ireland and the corporatization of sustainability discourses, they also illuminate the acute challenges that the climate crisis poses to political, social, and cultural forms in addition to ecosystems. The Irish canon has historically played a crucial role in Irish nationalism. But contemporary works are written at a time when questions of statehood and citizenship are yielding to the cross-border, multi-generational pressures of climate breakdown. Writing in the shadow of modernity’s rhetorical and carbon emissions, contemporary authors are skeptical of business-as-usual sustainability jargon emanating from institutions. Instead, they focus on the local variations of the planetary-level threats dominating the discourse of the Anthropocene, placing the country in a webwork of ecological and geo-political relations. Cleverly written and groundbreaking in scope, Sen’s analyses shows that Ireland’s postcolonial identity can be especially helpful to analyze the cultural footprint of the climate crisis"-- JSTOR

Contents:

A new world order

State, capital, and climate : Mike McCormack’s “Solar Bones”

From empire to the Anthropocene : A short history of Irish environmental humanities

Cumulative precarity and unseasonable weather : Sara Baume, Kevin Barry, and an unhomely Anthropocene

The nature of Irish nature : Land, soil, plantation, famine

The nature of Irish nature 2 : Eavan Boland and Moya Cannon

Opium’s empire and the Anthropocene’s earth system : James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake”

Epilogue : State and sanctuary in Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Caoilinn Hughes, and Paul Lynch

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (JSTOR, viewed July 21, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Sen, Malcolm Irish anthropocene

ISBN:

9780815657705

0815657706

OCLC:

1602194405

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license