Title: States of desire
First published: 1998
Description: This book is an intimate study of the three giants in Irish literary history: Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, and James Joyce. In addition to constructing a narrative of Ireland's political and literary past, Vicki Mahaffey interweaves the lives and writing of the authors into a portrait of national imagination, shaped not only by a vast cultural and mythic heritage, but also by the hard fact of English political domination.

States of Desire argues that what people desire is fundamentally connected to how they write and read. Not only do language and narrative shape desire (and vice versa), but because these processes are socially conditioned, some political circumstances, such as those present in Ireland at the turn of the century, foster experimental desire more successfully than others.

Mahaffey's contribution to the critical discourse on literary modernism is to assign a political motive to the art of modernist wordplay; in doing so, she offers a more compelling and socially driven version of the oft-told tale of literary modernism.
Subjects: English literature, History and criticism, Criticism and interpretation, In literature, National characteristics, Irish, in literature, Irish authors, English literature, irish authors, history and criticism, English literature, history and criticism, 20th century, English literature, history and criticism, 19th century, Ireland, in literature, Joyce, james, 1882-1941, Yeats, w. b. (william butler), 1865-1939, Nationalism in literature, Wilde, oscar, 1854-1900, English fiction & prose literature - general & miscellaneous - literary criticism, Literary criticism - general & miscellaneous, 20th century irish fiction & prose literature - literary criticism, Irish poetry - literary criticism, National characteristic
Places: Ireland
People: W. B. Yeats (1865-1939), Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), James Joyce (1882-1941)
Time periods: 20th century, 19th century
LC classification: PR8750 .M34 1998