Ireland and the Problem of Information. Damien Keane

      

      IRELAND AND THE PROBLEM OF INFORMATION

      ______________________

      IRELAND AND THE

       PROBLEM OF

       INFORMATION

      IRISH WRITING,

       RADIO,

       LATE MODERNIST

       COMMUNICATION

      DAMIEN KEANE

      The Pennsylvania State University Press

      University Park, Pennsylvania

      Permission to quote Louis MacNeice’s poem “The Unoccupied Zone” has been granted by the Estate of Louis MacNeice and David Higham Associates.

      Permission to cite the Princeton Listening Center Records has been granted by the Princeton University Library.

      Thanks to the deputy keeper of the records at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland for help with the records of the Northern Ireland Cabinet.

      An earlier version of part of chapter 1 appeared in “De Valera, Du Bois, and the Ethiopian Crisis,” Foilsiú 5, no. 1 (2006): 1–11. An earlier version of part of chapter 4 appeared in “Francis Stuart to America, 9 June 1940,” Dublin Review 14 (Spring 2004): 53–56.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Keane, Damien, 1973– , author.

      Ireland and the problem of information : Irish writing, radio, late modernist communication / Damien Keane.

      pages cm—(Refiguring modernism)

      Summary: “A series of studies examining literary modernism in Ireland. Explores how cultural work assumed new meaning amid the strategic imperatives of the mid-twentieth century, and demonstrates how the late modernist field became today’s information age”—Provided by publisher.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-0-271-06412-3 (cloth : alk. paper)

      1. Modernism (Literature)—Ireland—History—20th century.

      2. English literature—Irish authors—20th century—History and criticism.

      3. Radio broadcasting—Ireland—History—20th century.

      4. World War, 1939–1945—Radio broadcasting and the war.

      I. Title.

      II. Series: Refiguring modernism.

      PR8755.K427 2014

      820.9’11209415—dc23

      2014015839

      Copyright © 2014 The Pennsylvania State University

      All rights reserved

      Printed in the United States of America

      Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA 16802-1003

      The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses.

      It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Material, ANSI Z39.48–1992.

      This book is printed on paper that contains 30% post-consumer waste.

       FOR my mother

       CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Problem of Information

1

The Remediation of Waves

2

Dirty Work in New York

       3

       The Irish Free Zone

       4

       Radio Pages

       Conclusion: Compression and Cross-Fade

       Notes

       Bibliography

       Index

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Among other things, this book is about relations, and it makes me happy finally to be in the position to offer public thanks to the people who have enabled me to get here. This project began at the University of Pennsylvania, where Jean-Michel Rabaté guided its progress with remarkable patience and superb insight; following the direction of his comment (“important: need more information”) on a dissertation footnote led me circuitously, and ultimately, to this book. Vicki Mahaffey has been serially perceptive not only of the project’s aims, but of what lies behind it. Jim English was an early advocate of my work, although I only recognized much later how fundamental his influence has been to its formation. For their support and counsel, I also wish to thank Margreta de Grazia, Elaine Freedgood, Heather Love, and Jo Park.

      At Queen’s University, Belfast, the sharp eyes and good ears of Eamonn Hughes, Edna Longley, and the late Michael Allen continue to motivate my sense of critical engagement. All these years on, what I learned at Vassar College from Wendy Graham, Eamon Grennan, and Richard Severo remains central to my research and teaching, and I am especially grateful to them for encouraging me to see possibilities both near and distant.

      To good friends made in Philadelphia, thanks for all the reasons I do not articulate often enough: Tim Albro, Jeff Allred, Hester Blum, Rachel Buurma, Matt Hart, Laura Heffernan, Rayna Kalas, Carolyn and Tommaso Lesnick, John Lessard, Matt Merlino, Cindy Port, Martha Schoolman, Kathy Lou Schultz, Hannah Wells, and Caitlin Wood.

      Since arriving at Buffalo, I have been lucky in finding myself among a buoying and brilliant group of colleagues and friends: Jamie Currie, Molly Hutton, Michael Sayeau, Bill Solomon, Scott Stevens, Joe Valente, and Hershini Bhana Young. My students have been a persistent source of happiness, in particular Beth Blum, Stephen Boyd, J. C. Cloutier, Ronan Crowley, Julianna Crumlish, Amanda Duncan, Megan Faragher, John Hyland, Maura Pellettieri, and Alex Porco, from all of whom I have learned so much. I would be disgracefully remiss not to offer deepest thanks to the staff of the English Department, notably Wendy Belz, Sophia Canavos, and Nicole Lazaro, who make it all happen while also making me laugh.

      My work would be impossible without the expertise and dedication of librarians, catalogers, archivists, and other library staff. In particular, I would like to thank Michael Basinski, Austin Booth, James Maynard, and Laura Taddeo of the University Libraries at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

      More recently, I have been fortunate in meeting and working with new colleagues in a variety of forums, their acute responses to papers or presentations always offered in welcoming and intellectually enriching fashion. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the generosity of Paul Saint-Amour and Debra Rae Cohen, who, by their kindness and patience, have reminded me of important things I am prone to forget.

      My