Contemporary Irish Fiction

The contributors examine the distinctive themes, styles, and narrative strategies of some of Ireland's finest contemporary novelists. The scope of the collection ranges from such internationally acclaimed authors as John Banville, Edna O'Brien and Patrick McCabe, to critically neglected writers such as Clare Boylan and Dorothy Nelson. The range of topics covered is equally diverse, covering fictional representation of such concepts as the city, exile, motherhood, incest, lesbianism, and political violence in Northern Ireland.

Twelve academics from institutions in the UK, US, and Canada address topics in contemporary Irish fiction like the representation of Dublin, the aesthetics of exile, women and Catholicism in Brian Moore's Cold Heaven and John McGahern's Amongst Women, John Banville and literature with nothing to say, incest narratives, the novels of Emma Donoghue, Patrick McCabe and Colm Tóibín's pathographies of the Republic, the fictions of Glenn Patterson and Robert McLiam Wilson, and recent Northern Irish fiction. Harte and Parker surmise that contemporary Irish fiction has responded to Northern Ireland's last 30 years of violence and social and cultural change in the Republic with a questioning of "inherited pieties and verities" and of "the authority and efficacy of art itself." This collection should help put contemporary Irish fiction on the academic map. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Liam Harte is Senior Lecturer in Irish Studies at Saint Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, London. Michael Parker is Principal Lecturer in English at the University of Central Lancashire.