SEAMUS DEANE IS IN THE FOREFRONT of the effort to bring contemporary critical theory to bear on cultural debates in Ireland. Born in Derry in 1940, he has been responsible for a body of critical writings tracing the various inscriptions of the Enlightenment and modernity on Irish politics and literature. Internationally, he is known for editing the Field Day pamphlet series, which included essays by Fredric Jameson, Edward Said, Terry Eagleton, Richard Carney, and Declan Kibert (the pamphlets by Jameson, Said, and Eagleton were republished as Nationalism, Colonialism, and Literature by the