This is a study of popular festive laughter in Sean O'Casey's drama. It argues that O'Casey's use of the strategies of laughter is an integral part of his political vision. The concept of festive laughter is derived from the theory of Mikhail Bakhtin, and is related, in this thesis, to the culture of low life in O'Casey's Dublin. Through a detailed analysis of O'Casey's plays, this study shows how the forms of laughter function to interrogate the hegemonic political, economic, and cultural discourses of the Irish society of his time. The Dublin trilogy counters the nationalist ideology and its constructions of history, while the later comedies focus on the issues of cultural domination and religious authoritarianism. This negative critique of the dominant order is accompanied, in these plays, by a celebration of the rich energy of popular, collective life, and its capacity to resist domination and to create an alternative society. The study concludes by focusing on the festive nature of O'Casey's theatre.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.39493 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Malick, Neeraj |
| Contributors | Bristol, M. D. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of English.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001327321, proquestno: NN87568, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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