Synopses & Reviews
This book discusses relationships among religion, literature and ethnicity in North Ireland since 1967. The introduction provides a theoretical account of how literature engages sectarian prejudices, allowing these to be played out in ways that can help dissolve or mitigate the alienating effects of traditional enmities. Subsequent chapters deal with identity, endogamy, education, gender, and imprisonment. Each chapter combines an analysis of specific cultural issues of relationships between Northern Ireland and other modern societies facing analogous problems in a post-modern world marked by rapid globalization.
Synopsis
In guarded anticipation that the period of open warfare is drawing to a close and can now be approached as a unit, Grant (English, U. of Victoria, British Columbia) explores how religion and literature have interacted in the contested province. He looks at specific issues and writers who have addressed them, such as Seamus Heaney on identity, Brian Friel on marriage and education, Edna Longley on gender, and Boddy Sands on imprisonment.
About the Author
Patrick Grant is Professor of English at the University of Victoria, British Columbia.
Table of Contents
Religion, Ethnicity and Transgression * Fables of Identity: John Hewitt and Seamus Heaney * Endogamy and Education: Brian Friel and Stewart Parker * Gender, Pluralism and Equality: Edna Longley and Medbh McGuckian * Imprisonment: Bobby Sands, Brian Keenan and the Salman Rushdie Affair * Conclusion
Religion, Ethnicity and Transgression * Fables of Identity: John Hewitt and Seamus Heaney * Endogamy and Education: Brian Friel and Stewart Parker * Gender, Pluralism and Equality: Edna Longley and Medbh McGuckian * Imprisonment: Bobby Sands, Brian Keenan and the Salman Rushdie Affair * Conclusion