Murray, Peter
(2018)
Big causes and small nations: Michael Sayers,
writing, fascism, communism and Jewish-Irishness.
Irish Studies Review, 26 (4).
pp. 531-548.
ISSN 0967-0882
Abstract
This article begins by examining a series of 1944 articles by
Michael Sayers published in the New York newspaper PM and
the official response denying the existence of anti-Semitism in
Ireland they prompted. The content of the articles and the character of the official response to them are evaluated and the career
of their author is then outlined. A Dublin-born Jewish writer,
Sayers became politically active in the USA during the 1940s
and, having been “blacklisted” as the Cold War intensified,
returned to Europe to continue working mainly as a pseudonymous writer of television scripts. He was eventually able to return
to New York where he died in 2010 aged 98. While “blacklisted”
during the 1950s Sayers had a play staged under his real name in
Dublin without controversy despite the repeated attacks being
made in the city at that time on authors and actors whose alleged
left-wing leanings rendered them objectionable to Catholic vigilantes. The paper concludes with an examination of this episode.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Anti-fascism; Antisemitism;
World War II; Cold War;
anti-communist blacklisting; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology |
| Item ID: |
13136 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1080/09670882.2018.1519967 |
| Depositing User: |
Peter Murray
|
| Date Deposited: |
22 Jul 2020 14:42 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Irish Studies Review |
| Publisher: |
Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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