American Wake

This chapter focuses on Joyce and Irish America. It argues that the phenomenon of Irish emigration to the United States, particularly in the post-Famine period, transformed the culture and society of Ireland in ways in which Joyce was responsive in his writings. The chapter begins with an overview of connections between Ireland and America in the post-Famine period. It then moves on to a discussion of Joyce’s concept of that history as it is expressed in his so-called ‘Triestine writings’ (1907–12). Clear and specific allusions to Irish America are rare in Dubliners, A Portrait, and Ulysses, so the discussion jumps to Finnegans Wake and the significance of Irish America to several key features and characters in that work. It concludes with an analysis of Joyce’s correspondence in the mid-1930s with his son Giorgio as the latter pursued a music career in the United States.