Abstract not available

Thesis advisor: James M. Smith / This dissertation examines individual experiences of grief and trauma in Irish writing from 1935 to 2013, focusing specifically on novels by Elizabeth Bowen, Samuel Beckett, Sebastian Barry, and Eimear McBride. It offers a feminist reclamation of personal forms of loss that fall outside the purview of documented history and that typically go overlooked in literary criticism. Examples in this study include the suffering caused by the natural death of a family member, infertility, domestic and sexual abuse, social ostracism, institutionalization, and forced adoption. Through careful close readings of Bowen’s The House in Paris (1935) and The Death of the Heart (1938), Beckett’s Molloy (1955), Barry’s The Secret Scripture (2008), and McBride’s A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing (2013), I unpack how women’s insidious vulnerability to grief and trauma manifests in modern and contemporary Irish fiction. The works I discuss here reveal the depth and complexity of grief—making visible forms of loss and violence that society tends to ignore, working through what impedes the grieving process, and giving voice to underrepresented experiences of emotional and psychological suffering. Over three chapters, I engage with the discourses of trauma theory, Irish memory studies, and modernism and its afterlives. I draw on feminist psychiatrist Laura S. Brown’s discussion of “insidious trauma” to inform my own concept, “insidious vulnerability,” which I use to refer to the persistent threat of loss and violence that haunts marginalized groups in their daily lives. Likewise, I make reference to the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic definition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to distinguish trauma from other forms of emotional and psychological distress. I contribute to Irish memory studies by extending the critical conversation beyond public historical events (like the Easter Rising of 1916)—to include private forms of grief and trauma, particularly in the lives of women. Furthermore, I focus on authors who innovate, whose novels exhibit dissatisfaction with the limitations of conventional realist narratives and who attempt new modes of representation in an effort to articulate the inexpressible and the unexpressed. Bowen and Beckett stand as representatives of late modernism (1930s-1950s), while Barry and McBride help extend literary modernist afterlives into the twenty-first century. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: English.

Orientador: Peter James Harris / Banca: Alvaro Luiz Hattnher / Banca: Laura Patricia Zuntini de Izarra / Resumo: Este estudo analisa a intersecção entre literatura, memória e história em Reading in the Dark, de Seamus Deane. Para tanto, ele utiliza as noções de memória, experiência e história de Walter Benjamin, e discute a hipótese de que há uma intersecção entre literatura e história no romance de Deane que é criada pelo uso que é feito da memória como procedimento narrativo central. A análise dos elementos estéticos desse romance em paralelo com o contexto histórico a partir do qual ele é escrito e com o qual ele dialoga revelará no fim que a história é um elemento intrínseco em Reading in the Dark, de modo que a ficção de Deane comporta uma dimensão ao mesmo tempo estética e ética / Abstract: This study analyses the intersection between literature, memory and history in Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark. To do so, it uses Walter Benjamin's notions of memory, experience and history, and discusses the hypothesis that there is an intersection between literature and history in Deane's novel that is created by the use it makes of memory as its central narrative procedure. The analysis of the aesthetic elements of this novel in parallel with the historical context out of which it is written and with which it establishes a dialogue will reveal in the end that history is an intrinsic feature of Reading in the Dark, in a way that Deane's fiction has not only an aesthetic but also an ethical dimension to it / Mestre

O objetivo da presente pesquisa é o de discutir a reescrita da história da Irlanda, mais especificamente aspectos relacionados à construção da identidade nacional e de marcas da tradição, a partir da leitura do romance Tipperary, de Frank Delaney. Publicada em 2007, essa obra aborda de forma singular as querelas sobre identidade nacional, nacionalismo, passado, memória, e seus personagens principais e a trama estão significativamente ligados ao contexto político-social da história da Irlanda. Nessa reconstrução da história, o passado é revisitado através de diferentes pontos de vista. Nossa atenção estará voltada para a seleção de elementos/momentos da história do país que ganham foco na narrativa, e as possíveis repercussões deste processo. Além disso, nos concentraremos na questão das tênues fronteiras entre história e ficção, ou seja, as fronteiras pouco delimitadas entre o discurso histórico e o discurso ficcional. Na escrita da história em Tipperary, Delaney aborda questões relativas a mitos, lendas e tradições como importantes fatores de identidade nacional em uma Irlanda que emerge como uma nação independente. No romance em questão, podemos observar como história e memória se unem na jornada do protagonista, em sua empreitada de narrar a história de sua vida e de seu país / The goal of this present work is to discuss the rewriting of the history of Ireland, more specifically aspects related to the construction of national identity and marks derived by tradition from the reading of the novel Tipperary, by Frank Delaney. Published in 2007, the author works with the quarrels of national identity, nationalism, past, memory in a singular way, and its central characters and plot are significantly connected to the history and the political and social context of Ireland. In this process of reconstructing history, the past is revisited through different points of view. We will focus our attention in moments/elements in the history of this country that are highlighted in the narrative, and the possible repercussions of this procedure. Besides, we will concentrate in the issue of the possible boundaries between history and fiction, that is, boundaries that are not very clear between the historical discourse and the fictional discourse.The writing of history in Tipperary, Delaney addressed matters related to myths, legends and traditions that are important factors of national identity in the context of Ireland emerging as an independent nation. In this novel, we observe how history and memory come together in the journey of the protagonist in his enterprise to rewrite the history of his life and country

Essa pesquisa é a respeito das transposições do romance The butcher boy (1992), de Patrick McCabe, para a peça Frank Pig says hello (1992), por Patrick McCabe, e, para o filme The butcher boy (1997) adaptado e dirigido por Neil Jordan. O objetivo é analisar como o romance aparece no palco e na tela, ou seja, quais técnicas são usadas nas duas representações artísticas. Para tanto, é explorado o conceito de transposição, um tipo específico de adaptação que muda o gênero de uma história; assim como o dialogismo intertextual entre romance e peça e romance e filme. Essa pesquisa procura descobrir não somente como, mas por que as pessoas fazem transposições de uma obra. Será que faltam enredos nos últimos tempos? Ou será que a transposição dá continuidade a um tema que ainda não se esgotou? O trabalho contribuirá com pesquisadores ocupados nos estudos das áreas de Teoria Literária, Literatura, Cinema, Teatro e Literatura Comparada, por exemplo. Na área de Estudos Irlandeses, essa pesquisa contribuirá para o estudo de romances, peças e filmes irlandeses contemporâneos. / This research is about the transpositions of the novel The butcher boy (1992), by Patrick McCabe, to the play Frank Pig says hello (1992), also by Patrick McCabe, and into the movie The butcher boy (1997), adapted and directed by Neil Jordan. The aim is to analyze how the novel appears on stage and on screen, that is, which techniques are used in both artistic representations. To do so, we explore the concept of transposition, a specific type of adaptation that changes the genre of a story, as well as the intertextual dialogism between novel and play, and novel and film. This research attempts to find out not only how, but why people make transpositions of pieces of work. Are we now lacking new plots? Or would it be due to the fact that transpositions give continuity to a topic that has not yet run out? This work will give support to researchers within Literary Theory, Literature, Cinema, Theater, and Comparative Literature, for instance. Within Irish Studies, this research will contribute to the study of novels, plays, and contemporary Irish movies.

Essa pesquisa é a respeito das transposições do romance The butcher boy (1992), de Patrick McCabe, para a peça Frank Pig says hello (1992), por Patrick McCabe, e, para o filme The butcher boy (1997) adaptado e dirigido por Neil Jordan. O objetivo é analisar como o romance aparece no palco e na tela, ou seja, quais técnicas são usadas nas duas representações artísticas. Para tanto, é explorado o conceito de transposição, um tipo específico de adaptação que muda o gênero de uma história; assim como o dialogismo intertextual entre romance e peça e romance e filme. Essa pesquisa procura descobrir não somente como, mas por que as pessoas fazem transposições de uma obra. Será que faltam enredos nos últimos tempos? Ou será que a transposição dá continuidade a um tema que ainda não se esgotou? O trabalho contribuirá com pesquisadores ocupados nos estudos das áreas de Teoria Literária, Literatura, Cinema, Teatro e Literatura Comparada, por exemplo. Na área de Estudos Irlandeses, essa pesquisa contribuirá para o estudo de romances, peças e filmes irlandeses contemporâneos. / This research is about the transpositions of the novel The butcher boy (1992), by Patrick McCabe, to the play Frank Pig says hello (1992), also by Patrick McCabe, and into the movie The butcher boy (1997), adapted and directed by Neil Jordan. The aim is to analyze how the novel appears on stage and on screen, that is, which techniques are used in both artistic representations. To do so, we explore the concept of transposition, a specific type of adaptation that changes the genre of a story, as well as the intertextual dialogism between novel and play, and novel and film. This research attempts to find out not only how, but why people make transpositions of pieces of work. Are we now lacking new plots? Or would it be due to the fact that transpositions give continuity to a topic that has not yet run out? This work will give support to researchers within Literary Theory, Literature, Cinema, Theater, and Comparative Literature, for instance. Within Irish Studies, this research will contribute to the study of novels, plays, and contemporary Irish movies.

<p>This phenomenological study of John Banville’s fiction exhibits the way in which <i>Doctor Copernicus</i>, <i>Kepler, The Newton Letter</i>, and <i>Mefisto</i> persistently present air as a constituting factor. Air occurs as a phenomenological oasis permitting constitution to effectuate disclosure <i>ex nihilo</i>. As a self-constituting field of forms rather than as a system or arrangement of signs, <i>Doctor Copernicus</i> promotes a vision of reality that bypasses a world of scientific or aesthetic representation where objective or subjective deciphering has precedence over immediate revelation as immanent showing. In <i>Kepler</i>, air’s <i>aseity </i>marks a process of constitution intense enough to erase any sense of separation between the flight-paths of discovery and the thing discovered—thus producing the impression of an intriguing parity between the constituting and the constituted. Phenomena of aviation outline the experience of air’s constituting capacity as a prehuman directedness with no source outside itself. The scientist is drawn into an airborn or airborne allure recasting his life in more profound ways than those made available in cosmological inquiry. By means of the slightness of its constituting touch, air is shown as giving birth to apparently insignificant phenomena highlighting an explorability that cannot be defined in terms of mathematical models or logical postulations. In <i>The Newton Letter</i> penurious phenomena gain ascendancy over the scientist through a process defined as <i>autochthonous substantiation</i>. As in <i>Mefisto</i>, the destructive power of accidental fire reduces material and immaterial worlds to an empirical nothing where air, almost indistinguishable from that emptiness, becomes a form of saying facilitating recovery, or the semblance thereof. Finally the study elucidates the phenomenon of <i>monozygotic gemination</i> in <i>Mefisto,</i> a constituting force that allows a phantom brother or phantom limb to function as a regenerating resource rather than as a missing entity.</p>

This phenomenological study of John Banville’s fiction exhibits the way in which Doctor Copernicus, Kepler, The Newton Letter, and Mefisto persistently present air as a constituting factor. Air occurs as a phenomenological oasis permitting constitution to effectuate disclosure ex nihilo. As a self-constituting field of forms rather than as a system or arrangement of signs, Doctor Copernicus promotes a vision of reality that bypasses a world of scientific or aesthetic representation where objective or subjective deciphering has precedence over immediate revelation as immanent showing. In Kepler, air’s aseity marks a process of constitution intense enough to erase any sense of separation between the flight-paths of discovery and the thing discovered—thus producing the impression of an intriguing parity between the constituting and the constituted. Phenomena of aviation outline the experience of air’s constituting capacity as a prehuman directedness with no source outside itself. The scientist is drawn into an airborn or airborne allure recasting his life in more profound ways than those made available in cosmological inquiry. By means of the slightness of its constituting touch, air is shown as giving birth to apparently insignificant phenomena highlighting an explorability that cannot be defined in terms of mathematical models or logical postulations. In The Newton Letter penurious phenomena gain ascendancy over the scientist through a process defined as autochthonous substantiation. As in Mefisto, the destructive power of accidental fire reduces material and immaterial worlds to an empirical nothing where air, almost indistinguishable from that emptiness, becomes a form of saying facilitating recovery, or the semblance thereof. Finally the study elucidates the phenomenon of monozygotic gemination in Mefisto, a constituting force that allows a phantom brother or phantom limb to function as a regenerating resource rather than as a missing entity.

In search of an Irish women's literary tradition, this dissertation examines the fiction of Irish women writers from Maria Edgeworth in 1800 to Jennifer Johnston in 1984. Contemporary anthropological, psychoanalytical, and literary theory suggests that women, even those of different cultures, excluded from public life and limited to the domestic sphere, would develop similar interests. When these interests ran counter to those of the dominant group, the women would have had to develop a technique to simultaneously express and encode these interests and concerns. This technique in literature, and specifically in the writers considered, often results in a muted plot. On the overt level the plot reifies the values and tenets of the establishment, but, at the muted level, the plot often expresses contradictory and subversive values. In 1800, Maria Edgeworth employs a "naive" narrator who both expresses male disinterest in the awful situations of the women he depicts and also distances the author from any implied criticism of this male perspective. Edgeworth combines her subtle expose with a critique of the desires encoded as "human," but actually merely "male," in canonical literature. At the end of the nineteenth century, E. OE. Somerville and Martin Ross again use an arguably deceptive narratorial device, as does Molly Keane in 1981. Elizabeth Bowen employs a more subtle narratorial device in The Last September, but one which still distances the author from her text. The re-vision of texts, literary and historical, indeed the re-visioning of history, recurs in Bowen, Keane, Kate O'Brien, Julia O'Faolain and Jennifer Johnston. Finally, one can trace similarities of both theme and technique over the whole period, despite the modifications of time and social change. We can also point to the major thematic and structural change which occurs when, in the past ten to fifteen years, writers have reversed the placement of muted and overt plot.

O objetivo da presente pesquisa é o de discutir a reescrita da história da Irlanda, mais especificamente aspectos relacionados à construção da identidade nacional e de marcas da tradição, a partir da leitura do romance Tipperary, de Frank Delaney. Publicada em 2007, essa obra aborda de forma singular as querelas sobre identidade nacional, nacionalismo, passado, memória, e seus personagens principais e a trama estão significativamente ligados ao contexto político-social da história da Irlanda. Nessa reconstrução da história, o passado é revisitado através de diferentes pontos de vista. Nossa atenção estará voltada para a seleção de elementos/momentos da história do país que ganham foco na narrativa, e as possíveis repercussões deste processo. Além disso, nos concentraremos na questão das tênues fronteiras entre história e ficção, ou seja, as fronteiras pouco delimitadas entre o discurso histórico e o discurso ficcional. Na escrita da história em Tipperary, Delaney aborda questões relativas a mitos, lendas e tradições como importantes fatores de identidade nacional em uma Irlanda que emerge como uma nação independente. No romance em questão, podemos observar como história e memória se unem na jornada do protagonista, em sua empreitada de narrar a história de sua vida e de seu país / The goal of this present work is to discuss the rewriting of the history of Ireland, more specifically aspects related to the construction of national identity and marks derived by tradition from the reading of the novel Tipperary, by Frank Delaney. Published in 2007, the author works with the quarrels of national identity, nationalism, past, memory in a singular way, and its central characters and plot are significantly connected to the history and the political and social context of Ireland. In this process of reconstructing history, the past is revisited through different points of view. We will focus our attention in moments/elements in the history of this country that are highlighted in the narrative, and the possible repercussions of this procedure. Besides, we will concentrate in the issue of the possible boundaries between history and fiction, that is, boundaries that are not very clear between the historical discourse and the fictional discourse.The writing of history in Tipperary, Delaney addressed matters related to myths, legends and traditions that are important factors of national identity in the context of Ireland emerging as an independent nation. In this novel, we observe how history and memory come together in the journey of the protagonist in his enterprise to rewrite the history of his life and country