‘A river is not a woman’: Re-visioning Finnegans Wake in Eavan Boland’s ‘Anna Liffey.’

Authors

Melissa Dinsman, CUNY York CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2013

Abstract

"This essay argues that Eavan Boland's 1994 poem “Anna Liffey” is, in part, a re-visioning of James Joyce's famous river-woman and mother, ALP. Although Joyce's deconstructive tendencies provide an added challenge for any author looking to engage with Finnegans Wake, Boland manages to reclaim ALP, both channelling and challenging Joyce's portrayal of the Liffey as “Anna Livia Plurabelle.”--From the Journal.

Comments

Originally published in Contemporary Women’s Writing. Volume 7, Issue 2, July 2013, Pages 172-189. Published online on 3 May 2012 by Oxford Academic. https://doi.org/10.1093/cww/vps002