Overview

This collection of essays, written by many of the foremost McGahern scholars, provides solid reasons for why the Leitrim writer has assumed canonical status since his premature death in 2006, an event which sparked something akin to a period of national mourning in Ireland. The reason why so many people felt his loss so keenly is probably due to the fact that McGahern's attention to detail, his feel for landscape, his understanding of the Irish psyche, his carefully chiselled prose, his love of social and religious rituals, all contributed to his remarkable evocation of what it was like to live in Ireland at a specific time in its evolution - that is to say, from the time of independence up to the beginning of the new millennium. This is a multidisciplinary collection which situates McGahern in his literary context and explains the ingredients that make him such a revered writer, one who had his finger firmly on the pulse of the nation. Violence, love and desire, ecology, memory, friendship, photography, rage, sin, are examined with a view to assessing how they are pertinent to McGahern's work and the extent to which they contribute to his literary legacy. Declan Kiberd speaks from personal experience of the young writer who taught in Belgrove National School and was fascinated with cricket, whereas Donal Ryan describes how reading McGahern almost caused him to abandon his literary vocation because of his belief that he could never write like this master of prose. There is something in this book for both the specialist and non-specialist alike and it is essential reading for anyone with even a passing interest in McGahern the man and writer. Derek Hand is Head of the School of English at Dublin City University and Eamon Maher is a Lecturer in Technological University Dublin

Full Product Details

Author:   Derek Hand ,  Eamon Maher
Publisher:   Cork University Press
Imprint:   Cork University Press
ISBN:  

9781782053293

ISBN 10:   1782053298
Pages:   244
Publication Date:   15 March 2019
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Undergraduate ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Contents Foreword - Declan Kiberd: John McGahern: Impossible Things. Introduction - Derek Hand and Eamon Maher Section I - Mapping Literary Strategies Chapter 1 - Denis Sampson: John McGahern and 'Irish Writing': From The Dark to Amongst Women Chapter 2 - Richard Robinson: 'Not Even a Shadow of Violence': Undead History in John McGahern's Anglo-Irish Stories Chapter 3 - Sylvie Mikowski: Love and Desire in John McGahern's Fiction: Searching for 'All sorts of Impossible Things' Chapter 4 - Eamonn Wall: Evening in Cootehall: Reading John McGahern's Late Style Chapter 5 - Niamh Campbell: A Child is Being Beaten: Anatomy of Reaction to The Dark Section 2 - Images of Place and the Role of Memory Chapter 6 - Eoin Flannery: Ecocriticism and Reading Scale in John McGahern's Memoir Chapter 7 - Claudia Luppino: The Purity of feeling [of] the remembered 'I': Remembrance, Atonement and Celebration in The Leavetaking Chapter 8 - Anne Goarzin: Words and Images: John McGahern and Paul Butler Chapter 9 - Paul Butler: A Dub in Leitrim: McGahern as Seen Through the Camera Lens. Section 3 - Friendship, Anger and Sexual Repression Chapter 10 - Maire Doyle: 'My Sweet Guide': Friendship in McGahern's Fiction Chapter 11 - Joe Cleary: McGahern's Rages. Chapter 12 - Eamon Maher: Sins of the Flesh: Problematic Sexuality in McGahern and Francois Mauriac Afterword - Donal Ryan: From out of The Dark: John McGahern and Truth. List of Contributors Index

Reviews

Author Information

Derek Hand is Head of the School of English at Dublin City University and Eamon Maher is a Lecturer in Technological University Dublin

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions