Sots, Songs, and Stereotypes: 1916, the Fighting Irish, and Irish-American Nationalism in Finnegans Wake

The Irish historian J. J. Lee describes the role played by Irish America in the 1916 Easter Rising in the following succinct terms: "No New York, no America, no Easter Rising—simple as that." This pivotal role played by "Ireland's exiled children" in the events of 1916 and the longer revolutionary period seems quite clear, but far less clear is Joyce's response in his writing to the transatlantic phenomenon. The essay aims to explore and to clarify certain aspects of that response, focusing on Finnegans Wake and those aspects of Shaun's character in particular that closely resemble the transatlantic stereotype of the "Fighting Irish." It argues that this stereotype—both pejorative racial caricature and affirmative nationalist self-image—is key to Joyce's representation of Irish-American influence on Irish politics in the revolutionary period.