Part-Time Exiles

Four months in America, six months in Ireland, two months, perhaps, on tour around the world: such are the dislocations of contemporary Irish poets. This monograph explores how images of America---its culture, myths, dialects and history--translate into and transform the work of key contemporary Irish poets and their sense of identity. Economic considerations aside, this continuous peregrination often decades long has reshaped the very core of Irish poet expression. In examining the works of Paul Muldoon, Derek Mahon, Seamus Heaney, John Montague and Evan Boland the book shows how the shifting visions of America and Ireland correspond to what critics have called a "new globalization". This contact has lead to a new authenticity in the major work of these poets, but also has the potential of weakening the very "Irish" voice and tonality that originally brought these artists their first fame and cutting them off from their home audiences.