The Irish Literary Times

authors as diverse as Liam O’Flaherty and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne (whose writings neatly traverse this historical period) examine the myths and social policies that have sought to either exoticize these nomadic peoples as “tinkers” or categorize them in sociological terms as “itinerants.”[1] For both authors, the traveling life challenges identity defined by that which is rooted in the ownership and firm possession of the land and is bound by fixed notions of gender and sexuality. While Vivian Mercier is certainly correct in his assessment that O’Flaherty’s “true subject” is the “relationship between Man and Nature,” he fails to mention that the author interrogates both the universal category of “man” and the gendering of nature as female.[2] O’Flaherty’s tinker, who possesses androgynous characteristics