The exiled Irish writeran "Orientalist"?

Resumen

One important reason why postcolonial literature holds such a special place in Western countries stems from the fact that native "authenticity" has a market value in the West, and that postcolonial writers exploit an "Orientalist" consumer demand in their novels or poems by offering images of the exotic "East". This paper analyzes from this postcolonial perspective the American success of Irish-American writers such as Frank McCourt with his debut work "Angela's Ashes" (1996). His welcoming reception by the American audience can respond to what one critic calls a way of "welcoming otherness". By "authenticating" their own oppression as postcolonial subjects and by responding to the outsider's longing for an "exotic" world of bards where romanticism and mysticism seems to be undamaged, it seems that Irish writers can secure a place for themselves both economically and intellectually in the United States. I will explore this aspect of contemporary Irish literature, which until now had been overlooked by critics.