Seeking the singular universal: Writing in the Basque Country, Catalonia and Ireland in the work of Joseba Sarrionandia, Lluís Maria Xirinacs and Máirtín Ó Cadhain

Carlin, Patrick 2020. Seeking the singular universal: Writing in the Basque Country, Catalonia and Ireland in the work of Joseba Sarrionandia, Lluís Maria Xirinacs and Máirtín Ó Cadhain. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis links the concepts of modernity, its relationship with contested territorial sovereignty and how writerly production in a non-statewide or minority language in European political space interprets the impacts of the modern condition upon citizens living in contested political communities. Specifically, it looks at how left-wing authors writing in non-hegemonic, non-statewide languages claim particular and universal belonging for the minority political community they ascribe to and how equality is sought out from the recognition of difference and the consequences of such recognition. Chapter One analyses modernity from within nationalism studies as well as International Relations and literary criticism literatures. Three empirical chapters follow, beginning with Chapter Two which deals with the exiled Basque poet, novelist and essayist Joseba Sarrionandia. Chapter Three discusses the Catalan priest and civil disobedience activist Lluís Maria Xirinacs whilst Chapter Four focuses on the Irish novelist, short-story writer and language activist Máirtín Ó Cadhain. In the light of these central chapters, Chapter Five expands upon the themes developed in the introductory chapter, combining Reinhart Koselleck’s ‘history of the vanquished’ with Walter Benjamin’s reinvigoration of history as well as utopian and dystopian elements in the authors’ work to further enquire about the political ontology of the self-ascribing minority community they write mainly for. The thesis presents, for the first time to an English-speaking readership, an in-depth treatment of the writerly production of Joseba Sarrionandia and Lluís Maria Xirinacs and analyses them within a comparative framework.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Welsh
Uncontrolled Keywords:	modernity nationalism particularism universalism writerly production non-statewide and minority languages
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	29 May 2020
Last Modified:	29 May 2021 02:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/131971

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