Les mythes fondateurs de l'Irlande contemporaine

Every society generates its own myths. No nation, no state, no collective identity, can exist without reference to one or several founding myths which legitimizes its very existence as a separate social entity. But founding myths are not static representations : they change, die out, fight for survival against new myths. In Ireland, Nationalism and Unionism are in total disarray because the old founding myths which are crumbling down have not yet been replaced by new myths reconciling past and present. This paper attempts to describe this dialectic struggle between the old obsolete, exclusivist founding myths, and the open, pluralist new myths which are slowly emerging.