Most conflicts of the past centuries and many issues
the world community faces today stem from old claims
of nationalism and all it encompasses, exhibiting its
pulling power. But even though nationalism is the
ruling passion of our age, it is on its last legs ,
as Arjun Appadurai claims. The majority of
territorial states around the globe are not one
nation but carry only a thin veneer of shared
national identity which amounts to little more than
official discourse and covers up diversity within
this not-so-correctly perceived community.
Postnationalism as modern political and social
counter-ideology is centred on plurality, an open
take on belonging, and solidarity. After discussing
the nationalist creed and the conception of
postnationalism, this study locates an early example
of the latter in Joyce s novel 'Ulysses'. The
presented literary deconstruction of dominant
national discourses shows how the postnation is an
outcome not of modern globalisation but of the
failure of 19th and 20th century European
nation-ness. This work serves as introduction into
postnational theory as much as it presents a new
reading of the political concepts in Joyce s
acclaimed work of fiction.