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The Impediments of Inheritance: Living with the Legacies of Irish History in John McGahern's Early Novels

dc.contributor.authorFontaine, Michael
dc.contributor.copyright-releaseNot Applicableen_US
dc.contributor.degreeMaster of Artsen_US
dc.contributor.departmentDepartment of Englishen_US
dc.contributor.ethics-approvalNot Applicableen_US
dc.contributor.external-examinern/aen_US
dc.contributor.graduate-coordinatorDr. Carrie Dawsonen_US
dc.contributor.manuscriptsNot Applicableen_US
dc.contributor.thesis-readerDr. Ariel Watsonen_US
dc.contributor.thesis-readerDr. Julia M. Wrighten_US
dc.contributor.thesis-supervisorDr. Jerry Whiteen_US
dc.date.accessioned2014-08-14T16:07:22Z
dc.date.available2014-08-14T16:07:22Z
dc.date.defence2014-08-12
dc.date.issued2014-08-14
dc.description.abstractIn this thesis I argue that John McGahern’s early novels treat the rampant social despondency of mid-twentieth-century Ireland by revealing its roots in the social and political changes of the early twentieth century. I claim that in The Barracks, McGahern demonstrates the influence of national(ist) history on life in Ireland in the 1950s and early 1960s by examining his characters’ understandings of both Irish emigration and of the Civil War. In my discussion of The Dark, I contend that McGahern criticizes the legacies of Irish independence by comparing the nationalist campaign for independence with his protagonist’s own frustrated desire for autonomy, and also by depicting his character’s difficulty in navigating a social world shaped by the flawed ideology of independence. Ultimately, I argue that the toll the legacies of history take on the lives of McGahern’s characters leads to the bleakness of the novels.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10222/53775
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subjectMcGahern, Johnen_US
dc.subjectIrelanden_US
dc.subjectHistoryen_US
dc.subject"The Dark"en_US
dc.subject"The Barracks"en_US
dc.titleThe Impediments of Inheritance: Living with the Legacies of Irish History in John McGahern's Early Novelsen_US

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