"[Brian Cosgrove] has written extensively in literary studies, particularly on Joyce. In this book he takes the novel approach of interpreting Joyce's works via negatives. He sees the use of irony, in the metaphysical rather than rhetorical sense, as a key way into Joyce's work ... This is definitely for the well-read." Books Ireland Dec 2007 "Cosgrove's ... Read moreanalysis is fresh and insightful about both the theories he applies and, more importantly, about the Joycean text A... [He] patiently examines the various ramifications of his readings, such as showing how the relationship Joyce has towards his craftsmanship of the English language impacts on his A... attitudes towards the complex history of Irish subjugation under England. In this, Cosgrove's reading is superior to many of the so-called post-colonial readings of Joyce since most of those have unfortunately tended to elide Joyce's multivalent rapport with language. This also shows another strength of Cosgrove's book: even though he is dealing with abstract philosophical concepts, he never loses sight of the more quotidian, which would be to say the more fundamental and practical, implications of his argument A... As an application of theory-informed concepts and models to reading Joyce, Cosgrove's study is exemplary." Sam Slote Irish University Review Spring/Summer 2008 "This ingenious study by the retired Professor of English and Head of Department at NUI, Maynooth, and author of Wordsworth and the Poetry of Self-Sufficiency (1982), Brian Cosgrove, dispels the view of Ulysses as a celebration of the redemptive power of love and language. According to the author, Joyce's dehumanized characters inhabit a senseless world presided over by a cold artificer, whose playful language is a mere distraction from his thoughts of mortality. Its main contribution to Joyce studies is that it rescues him from second-hand sentimentalism and invites the readers to re-examine his Weltanschauung. [There is an] extraordinary alertness to the finer points in the texts exhibited in this study. Nor is the author neglectful of Joyce's delight in obscene language or his self-satirizing impulse. Notwithstanding the seriousness of its subject matter, the book exhibits a fine sense of humour. The writing is lucid; the reader never loses sight of the argument, however inventive and broad it becomes. James Joyce's Negations is a significant new departure in Joyce studies and provides a highly erudite model for the study of nihilism and irony in modernist literature." Irina Ruppo Malone National University of Ireland, Galway Sage: Irish Theological Quarterly 2008; 73; 413 November 2008 'Cosgrove's book - offers a refreshing view of familiar texts and critical debates. Bringing his rich experience and insight, gained from long years of reading and teaching Joyce, Cosgrove proves that any serious Joyce scholar shall do well to keep a healthy critical distance between him/her and the canonical readings of the industry.' Soichiro Onose, University of Tokyo Journal of Irish Studies 2008 vol. XXIII IASIL Japan "Cosgrove discusses Joyce as an international modernist rather than as a 'self-evidently Irish artist'. Many writers - among them E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, and George Bernard Shaw - considered Ulysses a bad book. Cosgrove disagrees, and he carefully explains what makes Joyce an astonishingly great novelist. - Cosgrove tells the reader that 'a central part of the argument of this study [is] that irony is the normative mode in Joyce'. And irony is what Cosgrave focuses on. Those who can deal with its complexity will enjoy Cosgrove's book." Q. Grigg Emeritus, Hamline University CHOICE October 2008 Vol. 46 No. 2 Cosgrove navigates a wide range of sources for his inquiry, including Schlegel, Flaubert and Kierkegaard, with perhaps the most interesting detours turning toward Chaos Theory. By drawing on the work of Thomas J. Rice and Peter F. Mackey, Cosgrove highlights the existential necessity of seeking to comprehend a work such as 'Ulysses' and of interrogating modes of survival within complex surroundings that deny the fulfillment of desire and thereby confront us with a metaphysic of negation. James Joyce is a pillar of modernity, and Cosgrove's engagement with the poetics of indeterminacy implicates more than just one man's work. In a world where definitive positions are increasingly difficult to find, let alone maintain, irony can be an effective way to disrupt and critique without actually having to take a position. Cosgrove of 'James Joyce's Negations' takes a position and makes no apologies for its bleakness. He offers a thorough, engaging and often provocative reading of James Joyce that confronts us with the implications of living in a world that is inexhaustible and not only devoid of meaning, but actually constructed to frustrate human hopes of transcendence. The point of the study is not to dismiss or devalue James Joyce, but rather, given the tendency to sentimentalise his work, to be as sensitive as possible to the challenges which he poses. - At times one is almost tempted to give up and jump into the relativist void, but the honest search for truth which pervades Cosgrove's investigation is what holds us back, and we find ourselves determined to return to the source with renewed vigour and a greater appreciation for what we are up against." Kasper Hartman, McGill University Canadian Association of Irish Studies vol 33 no 2 Fall 2007 Show Less