Abstract This essay reads Colum McCann's novels Dancer and Zoli as an important contribution to recent discussions about Irish multiculturalism. Because these works suggest that cultural diversity should be considered through an exploration of differences rather than the recognition of similarities, these novels create a poetics of alterity that does not erase national and cultural boundaries but allows readers to see beyond them. In doing so, McCann poses Irish multiculturalism as the responsibility of the Irish-born as well as the newly arrived immigrants and exiles.
