Themes Of Alienation And Exile Contemporary Irish Women Writers

Bringing together the diverse and marvelously articulate voices of women of Irish and Irish-American descent, editors Caitriona Moloney and Helen Thompson examine the complicated maps of experience that the women's public, private, and literary lives represent—particularly as they engage in both feminism and postcolonialism. Acknowledging Mary Robinson's revised view of Irish identity—now global rather than local—this work recognizes the importance of identity as a site of mobility. The pieces reveal how complex the terms "feminism" and "postcolonialism" are; they examine how the individual writers see their identities constructed and/or mediated by sexuality. In addition, the book traces common themes of female agency, violence, generational conflicts, migration, emigration, religion, and politics to name a few. As it represents the next wave of Irish women writers, this book offers fresh insight into the work of emerging and established authors and will appeal to a new generation of readers.

Women and Exile in Contemporary Irish Fiction examines how contemporary Irish authors have taken up the history of the Irish woman migrant. It situates these writers' work in relation to larger discourses of exile in the Irish literary tradition and examines how they engage with the complex history of Irish emigration.

Since World War II, exile and alienation have become two of the most prominent themes in world literature. Canadian and Indian literatures are no exception. Modern human civilisation is passing through a terrible ordeal following on from the catastrophic consequences of two world wars, and many people have been overwhelmed and overawed by the growth of science, technology and urbanisation. Alienation, a feeling of not belonging, has filled the life of modern man with uncertainties and disappointments, obstructions and frustrations. Indian and Canadian literatures are currently two of the most acclaimed forms of global literature, with major themes including a search for identity, a struggle for survival, and self and social isolation, and it is not surprising that female writers are major voices in both Indian and Canadian literature. There is a heavy imbalance of power between two sexes in both cultures, where men are considered to be domineering and the centre of the family while women are regarded as subordinate to men. Women’s suppression compels them to live in their self-exiled and alienated world. The works of Margaret Laurence and Anita Desai depict heart-rending facts and bitter realities which women have to face in an emotionless modern society. Since the patriarchal structure is prevalent in India and Canada, women are categorised as second-rate citizens and are treated as liabilities by their families due to a lack of financial power. In the absence of any economic, social, emotional, and financial support, they also consider themselves inferior to men. Time and again, they revolt against the mechanical and merciless treatment of their family and society, and sometimes they choose self-exile as a safeguard against the callous and selfish treatment of their family members. Their inner desire to revolt against an oppressive society and the prevailing cultural norm only increases their isolation. In their works, Laurence and Desai have unveiled the tortured psyche of sensitive women, who are unable to share their feelings with others and are destined to live an emotionally deprived life.

Bringing together the diverse and marvelously articulate voices of women of Irish and Irish-American descent, editors Caitriona Moloney and Helen Thompson examine the complicated maps of experience that the women's public, private, and literary lives represent—particularly as they engage in both feminism and postcolonialism. Acknowledging Mary Robinson's revised view of Irish identity—now global rather than local—this work recognizes the importance of identity as a site of mobility. The pieces reveal how complex the terms "feminism" and "postcolonialism" are; they examine how the individual writers see their identities constructed and/or mediated by sexuality. In addition, the book traces common themes of female agency, violence, generational conflicts, migration, emigration, religion, and politics to name a few. As it represents the next wave of Irish women writers, this book offers fresh insight into the work of emerging and established authors and will appeal to a new generation of readers.

This book traces the development of the modern short story in the hands of Irish women writers from the 1890s to the present. George Egerton, Somerville and Ross, Elizabeth Bowen, Mary Lavin, Edna O’Brien, Anne Enright and Claire Keegan are only some of the many Irish women writers who have made lasting contributions to the genre of the modern short story - yet their achievements have often been marginalized in literary histories, which typically define the Irish short story in terms of its oral heritage, nationalist concerns, rural realism and outsider-hero. Through a detailed investigation of the short fiction of fifteen prominent writers, this study aims to open up this critical conceptualization of the Irish short story to the formal properties and thematic concerns women writers bring to the genre. What stands out in thematic terms is an abiding interest in human relations, whether of love, the family or the larger community. In formal terms, this book traces the overall development of the Irish short story, highlighting both the lines of influence that connect these writers and the specific use each individual author makes of the short story form.

The essays in this collection combine historical, cultural, and literary analyses in their treatment of aspects of exile in Irish writing. Some are 'structuralist' in seeing exile as a physical state of being, often associated with absence, into which an individual willingly or unwillingly enters. Others are 'poststructuralist', considering the narration of exile as a celebration of transgressiveness, hybridity, and otherness. This type of exile moves away from a political, cultural, economic idea of exile to an understanding of exile in a wider existential sense. The volume presents readings of Irish literature, history and culture that reflect some of the historical, sociological, psychological and philosophical dimensions of exile in the 1800s and 1900s. The theme of exile is discussed in a wide range of texts including literature, political writings and song-writing, either in works of Irish writers not normally associated with exile, or in which new aspects of 'exile' can be discerned. The essays cover, among others: Butler, D'Arcy McGee, Mulholland, Joyce, Hewitt, Van Morrison, Ni Chuilleanain, Doyle, and Banville.

Philosophy and Literary Modernism probes the relationship of authors with the thought of their time. The authors studied here include Conrad, Eliot, Faulkner, Forster, Hemingway, Hesse, Kafka, Joyce, Lawrence, Williams, and Woolf, among others. Literary modernism engaged with explorations of literary form, language, ways of knowing the world, identity, commitment, chance, truth, and beauty. The book considers how writers participated in the intellectual spirit of their time and with the thought of philosophers like Henri Bergson, G.E. Moore, Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

A comprehensive and scholarly review of contemporary British and Irish Poetry With contributions from noted scholars in the field, A Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Poetry, 1960-2015 offers a collection of writings from a diverse group of experts. They explore the richness of individual poets, genres, forms, techniques, traditions, concerns, and institutions that comprise these two distinct but interrelated national poetries. Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companion to Literature and Culture series, this book contains a comprehensive survey of the most important contemporary Irish and British poetry. The contributors provide new perspectives and positions on the topic. This important book: Explores the institutions, histories, and receptions of contemporary Irish and British poetry Contains contributions from leading scholars of British and Irish poetry Includes an analysis of the most prominent Irish and British poets Puts contemporary Irish and British poetry in context Written for students and academics of contemporary poetry, A Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Poetry, 1960-2015 offers a comprehensive review of contemporary poetry from a wide range of diverse contributors.

Fifty Modern and Contemporary and Dramatists is a critical introduction to the work of some of the most important and influential playwrights from the 1950s to the present day. The figures chosen are among the most widely studied by students of drama, theatre and literature and include such celebrated writers as: • Samuel Beckett • Caryl Churchill • Anna Deavere Smith • Jean Genet • Sarah Kane • Heiner Müller • Arthur Miller • Harold Pinter • Sam Shephard Each short essay is written by one of an international team of academic experts and offers a detailed analysis of the playwright’s key works and career. The introduction provides an historical and theatrical context to the volume, which provides an invaluable overview of modern and contemporary drama.