Search engine for discovering works of Art, research articles, and books related to Art and Culture
Javascript must be enabled to continue!
The Humble, Gender, and the Local in Contemporary British and Irish Fiction
View through CrossRef
The article proposes to examine the connection indicated by the title which suggests that the narrative portrayal of ‘the humble’ is linked respectively to notions of masculinity and femininity and the bond with accustomed or contained places. Novels by Irish writers William Trevor, Sebastian Barry and Colm Toíbín use female protagonists to illustrate ‘the humble’ by figural representation, set in a restrictive and often stifling spatial and social environment. While circumscribed domesticity has been a hallmark of women characters in the English novel since the 18th century several contemporary writers, among them Graham Swift, have created male narrators and focalisers whose life and disposition were shaped by catastrophic or depressing events, so that they become representatives of ‘the humble.’ As Swift’s most recent short stories exemplify the anti-climactic course of life of ordinary people might also contain sufficient disillusioning potential for melancholia and the feeling of humiliation. The present narratives strikingly point to the inherent ambiguities of humbleness or the relation of dignity, vulnerability and ‘the humble.’
Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée
Title: The Humble, Gender, and the Local in Contemporary British and Irish Fiction
Description:
The article proposes to examine the connection indicated by the title which suggests that the narrative portrayal of ‘the humble’ is linked respectively to notions of masculinity and femininity and the bond with accustomed or contained places.
Novels by Irish writers William Trevor, Sebastian Barry and Colm Toíbín use female protagonists to illustrate ‘the humble’ by figural representation, set in a restrictive and often stifling spatial and social environment.
While circumscribed domesticity has been a hallmark of women characters in the English novel since the 18th century several contemporary writers, among them Graham Swift, have created male narrators and focalisers whose life and disposition were shaped by catastrophic or depressing events, so that they become representatives of ‘the humble.
’ As Swift’s most recent short stories exemplify the anti-climactic course of life of ordinary people might also contain sufficient disillusioning potential for melancholia and the feeling of humiliation.
The present narratives strikingly point to the inherent ambiguities of humbleness or the relation of dignity, vulnerability and ‘the humble.
’.
Related Results
Irish Literature and the Union with Britain, 1801–1921
Irish Literature and the Union with Britain, 1801–1921
Studies of Romantic and Victorian literary culture often sideline Irish writing—not always out of Anglocentric prejudice, but also because Irish literature in those periods was fre...
Modern Interpretations of Irish Mythology
Modern Interpretations of Irish Mythology
Modern versions of Irish mythological tales circulated widely from the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth, a period sometimes termed the Irish Revival, the Irish Liter...
Twenty-First-Century Irish Prose
Twenty-First-Century Irish Prose
In 2018, while serving as the second Laureate for Irish Fiction, the author Sebastian Barry proclaimed, “We are in an unexpected golden age of Irish prose writing” (Barry 2018, cit...
The 1916 Easter Rising
The 1916 Easter Rising
On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, over one thousand Irish rebels occupied prominent buildings across Dublin, triggering a battle for control of what was then a major UK city. Confro...
Children's Literature and Young Adult Literature in Ireland
Children's Literature and Young Adult Literature in Ireland
Irish children’s and young adult literature is a rich and complex field of inquiry. While the history of Irish children’s publishing can be traced to the eighteenth century, the em...
Frequency of Common Chromosomal Abnormalities in Patients with Idiopathic Acquired Aplastic Anemia
Frequency of Common Chromosomal Abnormalities in Patients with Idiopathic Acquired Aplastic Anemia
Objective: To determine the frequency of common chromosomal aberrations in local population idiopathic determine the frequency of common chromosomal aberrations in local population...
Irish Cinema
Irish Cinema
Irish cinema occupied a marginal status in world cinema until the double Oscar success in 1990 of the Irish feature My Left Foot, the directorial debut of Jim Sheridan. Three years...