A Lecture by Donal Manning – ‘Orangepeelers and Greengoaters’: Ulster and Partition in James Joyce’s Writing

This lecture will also mark the book launch of Donal Manning’s book “Finnegan’s Wake, Ulster and Partition. Donal will do a book signing following his lecture. A common perception of James Joyce’s work is that he wrote mainly about his native city, Dublin. In fact, he was engaged with Ireland as a whole. Joyce’s Ireland is complex: he insists on including Ulster, but he does not shy away from portraying its difference and separateness from the rest of the country. Nor does he minimise the obstacles which face the moulding of a truly inclusive Ireland. In this talk, I will present examples of Joyce’s treatment of all Ireland from his critical writing and from his fiction, from Dubliners to Finnegans Wake. I will argue that Joyce’s Ireland is pluralist and multifaceted and that, accordingly, he deprecated partition and the creation of the border. I will conclude by arguing that Joyce’s portrayal of Ireland is just as pertinent today as when he drew it a century ago. Donal Manning biographical note Donal Manning is a retired paediatrician. A native of Dublin, he has had a long- standing interest in the works of James Joyce. In 2021, he was awarded PhD at the Institute of Irish Studies, Liverpool University for a thesis on Ulster and unionism in Finnegans Wake. His book, Finnegans Wake, Ulster and Partition, was published by Cork University Press in 2023. Donal has had peer-reviewed papers on Finnegans Wake published in The Australasian Journal of Irish Studies, Irish Studies Re