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Drawing on historical, literary and cultural studies perspectives, this book examines the phenomenon of the "Returned Yank" in the cultural imagination, taking as its point of departure the most exhaustively discussed Returned Yank narrative, The Quiet Man (dir. John Ford, 1952). Often dismissed as a figure that embodies the sentimentality and nostalgia of Irish America writ large, this study argues that the Returned Yank's role in the Irish cultural imagination is much more varied and complex than this simplistic construction allows. Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, s/he has been widely discussed in broadcast and print media, and depicted in plays, novels, short stories and films. The imagined figure of the Returned Yank has been the driving impetus behind some of Ireland's most well-known touristic endeavours and festivals. In the form of U.S. Presidential visits, s/he has repeatedly been the catalyst for questions surrounding Irish identity. Most significantly, s/he has been mobilised as an arbiter in one of the most important debates in post-Independence Ireland: should Ireland remain a "traditional" society or should it seek to modernise? His/her repeated appearances in Irish literature and culture after 1952 - in remarkably heterogeneous, often very sophisticated ways - refute claims of the "aesthetic caution" of Irish writers, dramatists and filmmakers responding to the tradition/modernity debate.

Irish Americans in literature --- Irish Americans in popular culture --- American literature --- Emigration and immigration in literature --- Emigration and immigration in popular culture --- Irish influences --- Quiet man (Motion picture) --- Ireland --- Emigration and immigration --- History --- English literature --- Agrarians (Group of writers) --- Popular culture --- Depois do vendaval (Motion picture) --- Ēsychos anthrōpos (Motion picture) --- Hans vilda fru (Motion picture) --- Hombre quieto (Motion picture) --- Hombre tranquilo (Motion picture) --- Home tranquil (Motion picture) --- Homem tranquilo (Motion picture) --- Homme tranquille (Motion picture) --- Isyhos anthropos (Motion picture) --- Kadin satilmaz (Motion picture) --- Katze mit dem roten Haar (Motion picture) --- Mirni moz (Motion picture) --- Miran covek (Motion picture) --- Miran covjek (Motion picture) --- Nyugodt férfi (Motion picture) --- Shizuka naru otoko (Motion picture) --- Sieger (Motion picture) --- Spokojny czlowiek (Motion picture) --- Stille man (Motion picture) --- Tause mann (Motion picture) --- Tavse mand (Motion picture) --- Tichý muz (Motion picture) --- Tikhiĭ chelovek (Motion picture) --- Tikhii︠a︡t (Motion picture) --- Tykha li︠u︡dyna (Motion picture) --- Uomo tranquillo (Motion picture) --- Vaitelias mies (Motion picture) --- Yankee uit Ierland (Motion picture) --- Тихият (Motion picture) --- Тихий человек (Motion picture) --- Тиха людина (Motion picture) --- Ήσυχος άνθρωπος (Motion picture) --- Irish Free State