The Irish Pub as a Microcosm of the Nation in Twentieth-Century Irish Writing and Film

If, as Clare Carroll promotes, an "analysis of the 'nation' in all its various forms" is essential to any understanding of how Irish society and identity emerged from colonialism, then the hope of this dissertation rests on this diverse theoretical approach (6). For it is in viewing the Irish pub as a microcosm of the nation that this paper has sought to answer one specific question: If Irish society and identity were to be constructed "using only what tools the master left behind," then what are these so-called 'tools'? (Kiberd 338). Informed by the work of postcolonial theorists, including Clare Carroll and Declan Kiberd above, I have tried to answer this question. Focusing specifically on the twentieth century, I have taken a broad chronological approach to Irish writing and film to incorporate an episode by James Joyce (Ulysses 1922), a film by John Ford (The Quiet Man 1952), a novel by Lee Dunne (Goodbye to the Hill 1965), and a play by Tom Murphy (Conversations on a Homecoming 1985). Directing my postcolonial research to the specific pub passages and scenes of those mentioned above, I have, moreover, aimed to capture the imposing after-effect of colonialism on Irish society and identity in twentieth-century Ireland.