Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in<i> The Playboy of the Western World </i>and <i>The Well of Saints</i>

Njong Divine

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12

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Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints

Njong Divine

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 5)

Received: 15 August 2022 Accepted: 22 September 2022 Published: 11 October 2022

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Abstract

There is a constant and observable conflict in J. M. Synge’s drama between traditional pagan Irish values and those imported first by Christian missionaries and English invaders. Often, critics portray a single dimension of this conflict, with the Irish Anti-Hero character confronting those forces that represent modernity. The character’s heroism usually remains obscured by modern standards because he/she appears in the form of a tramp, an outcast, or even a violent criminal, and their inability to adapt causes them to stand as misfits in their own time. This article updates Irish identity politics narrative by presenting the “Irish Anti Hero” character as heroic in a traditional Irish sense because they choose the personal/local over the institutional/colonial. Their engaging in dreaming, song, poetry, storytelling and mythmaking are read as expressions of resistance to the foreign elements that threaten their culture and wellbeing. Drawing from The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints, this article presents Synge as interested in creating narratives that condemn the history of Irish invasion and celebrate Irish cultural inheritance. As preserver of this tradition that predates colonialism and still lingers in the fringes of modern Irish society, Synge’s anti-Irish heroes, who are alien to their own environments, resist mores and/or circumstances defined by modern values and are exceedingly imaginative. This intergenerational context signals the importance of understanding the historical circumstances that continued to impact the lives of many Irish in Synge’s days. By highlighting the long-term background and its damaging effects on Irish political identity, the Anglo-Irish dramatist invites the reader and the politician to develop a deeper understanding of the Irish experience, which can lead to a debate and, ultimately, to change.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12
Page(s)	272-277
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Irish Anti-Hero, Irish Identity, Nationalism, Modernism, Native Myth

References

[1]	Burk, Mary. The Riot of Spring: Synge’s ‘Failed Realism’ and the Peasant Drama. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
[2]	Collins, Christopher. “Synge on Vagrancy: Labour, Workhouse and the Feeble Minded”, Irish Studies Review, Vol 25, No. 2, 2019. 9-14.
[3]	Synge and Protestant Comedy: For the Sake of Sanity: Doing Things with Humor in Irish Performance. Cary for Press: Dublin, 2014.
[4]	Fogarty, Anne. “Ghostly Intertexts: James Joyce and the Legacy of Synge.” Synge and Edwardian Ireland. Eds. Brian Cliff and Nicholas Grene, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. 225-244.
[5]	Ghosh, Mallika. “Lacan and Post-Structuralism”. International Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology (IJSSA), Vol 1, No 1, 2016. 85-89.
[6]	Kitishat, Amal Riyadh. “Colonialism and the Recreation of Identity: The Irish Theatre as a Case Study.” Journal of Language and Culture. Vol. 3, No. 5, 2012. 83-86.
[7]	Kardi, Maria. “Holding on Much of the Mind of Ireland and Writing Modernist Drama: Celebrating Thoughts on the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of J. M. Synge.” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies: Vol 27, No 2, 2021. 100-106.
[8]	“Alternative Readings of J. M. Synge Predicted on Archival Material.” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies: Vol 25, No 2, 2019.
[9]	Ni Dhuibhne, Eilis “The Best Field Worker: John Millington Synge and Irish Folklore.” Synge and His Influences. Ed. Patrick Lonergan, Dublin: Carysfort Press, 2011. 93-110.
[10]	Nozen, Amin. “A Critical Study of the Contribution of Abbey Theatre to the Promotion of Irish Literature: With Reference to the Selected Works of William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge and George Bernard Shaw. QUID. Vol. 1, 2017. 154-170.
[11]	Rayburn, Geoffrey. This is Whose Story? A Re-evaluation of John Millington Synge’s Primitivism in The Aran Islands. New York: Syracuse, 2010.
[12]	Sean, Hewitt, Synge: Nature, Politics and Modernism. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2021.
[13]	Wiedenmann, S. Heinrich Heine: Dreams in a Winter Tale, A New Historicist Approach. Munich: Grin Verlag, 2007.

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Njong Divine. (2022). Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(5), 272-277. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12

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Njong Divine. Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(5), 272-277. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12

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AMA Style

Njong Divine. Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints. Int J Lit Arts. 2022;10(5):272-277. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12,
  author = {Njong Divine},
  title = {Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {10},
  number = {5},
  pages = {272-277},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221005.12},
  abstract = {There is a constant and observable conflict in J. M. Synge’s drama between traditional pagan Irish values and those imported first by Christian missionaries and English invaders. Often, critics portray a single dimension of this conflict, with the Irish Anti-Hero character confronting those forces that represent modernity. The character’s heroism usually remains obscured by modern standards because he/she appears in the form of a tramp, an outcast, or even a violent criminal, and their inability to adapt causes them to stand as misfits in their own time. This article updates Irish identity politics narrative by presenting the “Irish Anti Hero” character as heroic in a traditional Irish sense because they choose the personal/local over the institutional/colonial. Their engaging in dreaming, song, poetry, storytelling and mythmaking are read as expressions of resistance to the foreign elements that threaten their culture and wellbeing. Drawing from The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints, this article presents Synge as interested in creating narratives that condemn the history of Irish invasion and celebrate Irish cultural inheritance. As preserver of this tradition that predates colonialism and still lingers in the fringes of modern Irish society, Synge’s anti-Irish heroes, who are alien to their own environments, resist mores and/or circumstances defined by modern values and are exceedingly imaginative. This intergenerational context signals the importance of understanding the historical circumstances that continued to impact the lives of many Irish in Synge’s days. By highlighting the long-term background and its damaging effects on Irish political identity, the Anglo-Irish dramatist invites the reader and the politician to develop a deeper understanding of the Irish experience, which can lead to a debate and, ultimately, to change.},
 year = {2022}
}

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AB  - There is a constant and observable conflict in J. M. Synge’s drama between traditional pagan Irish values and those imported first by Christian missionaries and English invaders. Often, critics portray a single dimension of this conflict, with the Irish Anti-Hero character confronting those forces that represent modernity. The character’s heroism usually remains obscured by modern standards because he/she appears in the form of a tramp, an outcast, or even a violent criminal, and their inability to adapt causes them to stand as misfits in their own time. This article updates Irish identity politics narrative by presenting the “Irish Anti Hero” character as heroic in a traditional Irish sense because they choose the personal/local over the institutional/colonial. Their engaging in dreaming, song, poetry, storytelling and mythmaking are read as expressions of resistance to the foreign elements that threaten their culture and wellbeing. Drawing from The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints, this article presents Synge as interested in creating narratives that condemn the history of Irish invasion and celebrate Irish cultural inheritance. As preserver of this tradition that predates colonialism and still lingers in the fringes of modern Irish society, Synge’s anti-Irish heroes, who are alien to their own environments, resist mores and/or circumstances defined by modern values and are exceedingly imaginative. This intergenerational context signals the importance of understanding the historical circumstances that continued to impact the lives of many Irish in Synge’s days. By highlighting the long-term background and its damaging effects on Irish political identity, the Anglo-Irish dramatist invites the reader and the politician to develop a deeper understanding of the Irish experience, which can lead to a debate and, ultimately, to change.
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Njong Divine

Higher Teacher Training College-Bertoua, The University of Bertoua, Bertoua, The Republic of Cameroon

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Njong Divine. (2022). Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(5), 272-277. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12

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ACS Style

Njong Divine. Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(5), 272-277. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12

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AMA Style

Njong Divine. Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints. Int J Lit Arts. 2022;10(5):272-277. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12,
  author = {Njong Divine},
  title = {Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {10},
  number = {5},
  pages = {272-277},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221005.12},
  abstract = {There is a constant and observable conflict in J. M. Synge’s drama between traditional pagan Irish values and those imported first by Christian missionaries and English invaders. Often, critics portray a single dimension of this conflict, with the Irish Anti-Hero character confronting those forces that represent modernity. The character’s heroism usually remains obscured by modern standards because he/she appears in the form of a tramp, an outcast, or even a violent criminal, and their inability to adapt causes them to stand as misfits in their own time. This article updates Irish identity politics narrative by presenting the “Irish Anti Hero” character as heroic in a traditional Irish sense because they choose the personal/local over the institutional/colonial. Their engaging in dreaming, song, poetry, storytelling and mythmaking are read as expressions of resistance to the foreign elements that threaten their culture and wellbeing. Drawing from The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints, this article presents Synge as interested in creating narratives that condemn the history of Irish invasion and celebrate Irish cultural inheritance. As preserver of this tradition that predates colonialism and still lingers in the fringes of modern Irish society, Synge’s anti-Irish heroes, who are alien to their own environments, resist mores and/or circumstances defined by modern values and are exceedingly imaginative. This intergenerational context signals the importance of understanding the historical circumstances that continued to impact the lives of many Irish in Synge’s days. By highlighting the long-term background and its damaging effects on Irish political identity, the Anglo-Irish dramatist invites the reader and the politician to develop a deeper understanding of the Irish experience, which can lead to a debate and, ultimately, to change.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Modernity as Hostile and Predatory: Synge and the Irish Anti Hero in The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints
AU  - Njong Divine
Y1  - 2022/10/11
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 272
EP  - 277
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221005.12
AB  - There is a constant and observable conflict in J. M. Synge’s drama between traditional pagan Irish values and those imported first by Christian missionaries and English invaders. Often, critics portray a single dimension of this conflict, with the Irish Anti-Hero character confronting those forces that represent modernity. The character’s heroism usually remains obscured by modern standards because he/she appears in the form of a tramp, an outcast, or even a violent criminal, and their inability to adapt causes them to stand as misfits in their own time. This article updates Irish identity politics narrative by presenting the “Irish Anti Hero” character as heroic in a traditional Irish sense because they choose the personal/local over the institutional/colonial. Their engaging in dreaming, song, poetry, storytelling and mythmaking are read as expressions of resistance to the foreign elements that threaten their culture and wellbeing. Drawing from The Playboy of the Western World and The Well of Saints, this article presents Synge as interested in creating narratives that condemn the history of Irish invasion and celebrate Irish cultural inheritance. As preserver of this tradition that predates colonialism and still lingers in the fringes of modern Irish society, Synge’s anti-Irish heroes, who are alien to their own environments, resist mores and/or circumstances defined by modern values and are exceedingly imaginative. This intergenerational context signals the importance of understanding the historical circumstances that continued to impact the lives of many Irish in Synge’s days. By highlighting the long-term background and its damaging effects on Irish political identity, the Anglo-Irish dramatist invites the reader and the politician to develop a deeper understanding of the Irish experience, which can lead to a debate and, ultimately, to change.
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
ER  -

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