In James Joyce and the Politics of Egoism, first published in 2001, a leading scholar approaches the entire Joycean canon through the concept of 'egoism'. This concept, Jean-Michel Rabaté argues, runs throughout Joyce's work, and involves and incorporates its opposite, 'hospitality', a term Rabaté understands as meaning an ethical and linguistic opening to 'the other'. For Rabaté both concepts emerge from the fact that Joyce published crucial texts in the London based review The Egoist and later moved on to forge strong ties with the international Paris avant-garde. Rabaté examines the theoretical debates surrounding these connections, linking Joyce's engagement with Irish politics with the aesthetic aspects of his texts. Through egoism, he shows, Joyce defined a literary sensibility founded on negation; through hospitality, Joyce postulated the creation of a new, utopian readership. Rabaté explores Joyce's complex negotiation between these two poles in a study of interest to all Joyceans and scholars of modernism.
‘Jean-Michel Rabaté is one of our most original, wide-ranging and informed of Joyce critics, and his new study lives up to the very high standards of his earlier work. The range of topics in James Joyce and the Politics of Egoism is typical of Rabaté’s searching intellect which is constantly finding nuggets of relevant information.’
Derek Attridge - University of York
‘James Joyce and the Politics of Egoism, a work of extra ordinary breadth and perceptiveness, makes for fascinating reading. Rabaté's sophistication, his intellectual range, and his generous tolerance for different critical and theoretical approaches combine to produce a major contribution to the study of Joyce (and of modernism).
Source: Modernism/Modernity
Loading metrics...
* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.
Usage data cannot currently be displayed.
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.
Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.