The Story
In this book, James M. Cahalan examines gender issues in the writings and in the lives of a dozen notable Irish authors and their fictional characters. Covering literature from the late nineteenth century to the present, he seeks to close the gender gap in Irish literary history by pairing similar works of fiction by both men and women. The author addresses, for instance, how women writers characterizations of men compare with mens representations of women. Sensitive to other distinctions such as class and region, Cahalan reveals differences in perceptions of shared subjectssuch as politic and autobiographyto illuminate a series of double visions. Contents include readings of the Aran Islands narratives of Emily Lawle s and Liam OFlaherty; the comic fictions and serious careers of Somerville and Ross and James Joyce; the comingofage novels of Edna OBrien and John McGahern and Brian Moore; and Troubles novels by four authorsJennifer Johnston and Bernard MacLaver ty, and Julia OFaolain and William Trevor. The books introduction is a farranging critique of feminist criticism and gender issues in Irish cultural history, while the conclusion touches on several other recent Irish novels and films.
Description
In this book, James M. Cahalan examines gender issues in the writings and in the lives of a dozen notable Irish authors and their fictional characters. Covering literature from the late nineteenth century to the present, he seeks to close the gender gap in Irish literary history by pairing similar works of fiction by both men and women. The author addresses, for instance, how women writers characterizations of men compare with mens representations of women. Sensitive to other distinctions such as class and region, Cahalan reveals differences in perceptions of shared subjectssuch as politic and autobiographyto illuminate a series of double visions. Contents include readings of the Aran Islands narratives of Emily Lawle s and Liam OFlaherty; the comic fictions and serious careers of Somerville and Ross and James Joyce; the comingofage novels of Edna OBrien and John McGahern and Brian Moore; and Troubles novels by four authorsJennifer Johnston and Bernard MacLaver ty, and Julia OFaolain and William Trevor. The books introduction is a farranging critique of feminist criticism and gender issues in Irish cultural history, while the conclusion touches on several other recent Irish novels and films.
