List of Figures Notes on the Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction; C.Graham & R.Kirkland '... maybe that's just Blarney': Irish Culture and the Persistence of Authenticity; C.Graham Decolonisation and Criticism: Towards a Theory of Irish Critical Discourse; G.Smyth 'Pestilence on their Backs, Famine in their Stomachs': The Racial Construction of Irishness and the Irish in Britain; J.MacLaughlin Gendered Irishness in Britain: Changing Constructions; B.Walter Breaking the 'Cracked Mirror': Binary Oppositions in the Culture of Contemporary Ireland; S.Richards Troubles, Terminus and The Treaty ; L.Pettitt Reading Responsibility in Castle Rackrent ; C.Connolly 'Could Anyone Write it?': Place in Tom Paulin's Poetry; E.Hughes The Body's in the Post: Contemporary Irish Poetry and the Dispersed Body; T.Herron Questioning the Frame: Hybridity, Ireland and the Institution; R.Kirkland Bibliography Index