Taking back history : Irish women's fiction, 1928-1988
Date
1991-01
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Degree Level
Doctoral
Abstract
In this study of modern historical fictions by female
writers I argue that there is an "invisible intertext" in
women's writing in Ireland that challenges the tradition
discerned by mainstream critics. The mainstream tradition
is, in fact, a male tradition and it includes only those
historical fictions that inscribe a view of modern Irish
history as "the story of the struggle to overcome British
domination."
In an extended first section, I examine modern Irish
literary and historical discourse to reveal the particular
ways that women have been written out. I demonstrate that
a major project of mainstream critics and historians has been
to explain a "clash of cultures" (Protestant and Catholic).
In its insistence that cultural difference has produced
distinct literatures, this project has tended to obscure
cross-cultural similarities in the lives of women. These
similarities, I argue, are evident in women's writing. I
demonstrate also that mainstream literary criticism has fused
a male-dominated literature to a militaristic history to
create a literary canon that excludes female authors.
I then compare historical fictions by female authors
from Elizabeth Bowen (1929) to Jennifer Johnston (1987) to
show that not only do women's texts bear striking similarities
to one another (whether the authors are Catholic or
Protestant) but also that taken together they challenge the
picture of Irish history presented by male authors.
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Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
English
Program
English