John McGahern and Modernism

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British
Cover of the book John McGahern and Modernism by Dr Richard Robinson, Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Dr Richard Robinson ISBN: 9781623562595
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Publication: December 15, 2016
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic Language: English
Author: Dr Richard Robinson
ISBN: 9781623562595
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: December 15, 2016
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English

John McGahern's work is not easily conceived of as belatedly modernist. His memorialising, faintly archaic style implies a concern with 'making it old' rather than new, suggesting the symptomatic diffidence of many who wrote in the wake of modernism. Nevertheless, McGahern's statements about the 'presence' of words and the hard-won impersonality of the artwork point to a covert engagement with modernist aesthetics. Offering intertextual interpretations of McGahern's six novels, and of thematically grouped short stories, Richard Robinson reads McGahern's fiction alongside writing by Joyce, Proust, Yeats, Beckett, Nietzsche, Lawrence and Chekhov, amongst others. Drawing out the ways in which McGahern's fiction conceals and reveals its modernist traces, this study considers subjects such as 'low' modernism, the complexity of McGahern's time-writing and his dialectical construction of the relationship between cultural tradition and modernity in Ireland. McGahern's narratives of melancholic return are often read psycho-biographically, but they also involve a return to the remnants of literature, including that of the modernist canon. This book will be of interest not only to McGahern scholars but also to those who contemplate the compromised legacies of literary modernism in late-twentieth century and contemporary writing.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

John McGahern's work is not easily conceived of as belatedly modernist. His memorialising, faintly archaic style implies a concern with 'making it old' rather than new, suggesting the symptomatic diffidence of many who wrote in the wake of modernism. Nevertheless, McGahern's statements about the 'presence' of words and the hard-won impersonality of the artwork point to a covert engagement with modernist aesthetics. Offering intertextual interpretations of McGahern's six novels, and of thematically grouped short stories, Richard Robinson reads McGahern's fiction alongside writing by Joyce, Proust, Yeats, Beckett, Nietzsche, Lawrence and Chekhov, amongst others. Drawing out the ways in which McGahern's fiction conceals and reveals its modernist traces, this study considers subjects such as 'low' modernism, the complexity of McGahern's time-writing and his dialectical construction of the relationship between cultural tradition and modernity in Ireland. McGahern's narratives of melancholic return are often read psycho-biographically, but they also involve a return to the remnants of literature, including that of the modernist canon. This book will be of interest not only to McGahern scholars but also to those who contemplate the compromised legacies of literary modernism in late-twentieth century and contemporary writing.

More books from Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover of the book The Divine Supermarket by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book Daniels Plays: 1 by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book Night Watch by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book Michel Meyer's Problematology by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book New Testament Theology and its Quest for Relevance by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book Arnold Bennett by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book 3D by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book The Internet Unconscious by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book 100 Completely New Ideas for Managing Behaviour by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book Confederate Cavalryman vs Union Cavalryman by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book The Fatal Gift by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book T-64 Battle Tank by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book Ozu International by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book RSPB Spotlight: Badgers by Dr Richard Robinson
Cover of the book Brother and Sister by Dr Richard Robinson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy