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Twenty-three Irish authors have won or been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for fictionwithin the last forty years.The majority of the novels are related to the independence from England.
Ireland has won economical independence since it achieved freedom from the British rule, yet thecolonialism is still detected in the countrys culture.
This dissertation examines postcolonial themes, such as nationality, Identity, language, race, andculture, in contemporary Irish novels.Particularly, this dissertation aims to reveal how three recentIrish novels, Lies of Silence (1990) by Brian Moore, Reading in the Dark (1997) by Seamus Deane,and finally At Swim, Two Boys (2001) by Jamie ONeill connected to postcolonial studies.Themajor issue is that these Irish writers totally reject to live under the United Kingdom which makesthem rather English not Irish.They also undermine any British power, in terms of politics, language,religion and culture, on Irish people by emphasizing that Ireland has its own nationality, languageand culture; to be an Irish is to be in Ireland and speaks Irish language.These novels display themescommon in the works of writers from nations that suffered from colonization in their histories,including the loss of identity, the construction of the self through narration, the problematicrelationship to Ireland as a motherland, the need to re-write familial and personal history from anIrish perspective, the challenges of using English, an imposed language, to construct identity, and thecurrent political and religious issues that Ireland has been through.It is quite valuable for critics toidentify the postcolonial traits present in Irish works in order to better understand Irish literature itself,as well as the conflicts that the countrys citizens continue to face today.I will also analyze theeffects of the British remapping of Ireland from a postcolonial theoretical angle, focusing on its mostinvasive and lasting consequence, the replacement of the native language and its culturalrepercussions.
The issues of "nationality", "self-identity", "religious conflict" and "politics" are the essence ofthe writings of Irish novelists.Whether these issues, which are addressed in the novels, are going tobe solved in Ireland is a question which has been argued for a long time.These novelists, Moore,Deane, and ONeill deal with the situation from their own perspectives, focusing on different,particular, historical times, and have presented societal issues and the tiredness of people under thecolonial rule of the British Empire.Postcolonialism is one of the most important theories incontemporary literary criticism, thus this research aims at applying the theory into the selected novelsin order to clarify the current issues of identity, religion, race, and politics and their impact on theIrish people.These novels capture the moment in the history of Ireland when the British, in a clearsign of imperial dominance, initiated the remapping and reestablishing of the Irish territory.TheBritish also generates a linguistic uncertainty that eventually led to the capitulation of the Gaeliclanguage and placed the colonizing tongue, English.
Chapter One gives an introduction about Irish literature in relation to postcolonial studies,especially the three works under discussion It also provides a literature review of previous studies ofthe chosen novels.Finally, it explains the methodology of this study and the contents of thedissertation.
Chapter Two is devoted to the analysis of Lies of Silence.The novel exhibits the division amongIrish people due to religious and political disputes, and the futility of Irish opposition represented byIRA.It suggests an altemative solution to Irish identity crisis, that is, to redefine Irish identitythrougha national language.Chapter Three deals with the second chosen novel, Reading in the Dark.
It focuses on Deanes perspective in the search of Irish Identity and Irishness with an effort to regainnationalism through Irish language.Chapter Four is about the last novel, At Swim Two Boys.Thisnovel approaches the Irish issues, such as culture, politics, Irish nationalism and language, in a ratherdifferent way.Unlike the previous two works, it is targeted at the issue of nationalism.Traditionally,Irish nationalism is linked to martyrdom, the novel on one hand exhibits Irish national martyrdom,but, on the other, demystifies it and suggests cultural nationalism as an altemative path.
Chapter Five concludes the dissertation which summarizes the previous discussions and restatesthe major arguments given in the dissertation.It also gives further studies on the selectedcontemporary Irish novels.This research attempts to reveal the significance of the Irish novels fromthe postcolonial perspective, yet they have not received due critical attention prior to this study,especially in relation to postcolonialism.It is hoped that the research will help to reassure theirposition as a classic both in Irish literature and in postcolonial literature.
Ireland has won economical independence since it achieved freedom from the British rule, yet thecolonialism is still detected in the countrys culture.
This dissertation examines postcolonial themes, such as nationality, Identity, language, race, andculture, in contemporary Irish novels.Particularly, this dissertation aims to reveal how three recentIrish novels, Lies of Silence (1990) by Brian Moore, Reading in the Dark (1997) by Seamus Deane,and finally At Swim, Two Boys (2001) by Jamie ONeill connected to postcolonial studies.Themajor issue is that these Irish writers totally reject to live under the United Kingdom which makesthem rather English not Irish.They also undermine any British power, in terms of politics, language,religion and culture, on Irish people by emphasizing that Ireland has its own nationality, languageand culture; to be an Irish is to be in Ireland and speaks Irish language.These novels display themescommon in the works of writers from nations that suffered from colonization in their histories,including the loss of identity, the construction of the self through narration, the problematicrelationship to Ireland as a motherland, the need to re-write familial and personal history from anIrish perspective, the challenges of using English, an imposed language, to construct identity, and thecurrent political and religious issues that Ireland has been through.It is quite valuable for critics toidentify the postcolonial traits present in Irish works in order to better understand Irish literature itself,as well as the conflicts that the countrys citizens continue to face today.I will also analyze theeffects of the British remapping of Ireland from a postcolonial theoretical angle, focusing on its mostinvasive and lasting consequence, the replacement of the native language and its culturalrepercussions.
The issues of "nationality", "self-identity", "religious conflict" and "politics" are the essence ofthe writings of Irish novelists.Whether these issues, which are addressed in the novels, are going tobe solved in Ireland is a question which has been argued for a long time.These novelists, Moore,Deane, and ONeill deal with the situation from their own perspectives, focusing on different,particular, historical times, and have presented societal issues and the tiredness of people under thecolonial rule of the British Empire.Postcolonialism is one of the most important theories incontemporary literary criticism, thus this research aims at applying the theory into the selected novelsin order to clarify the current issues of identity, religion, race, and politics and their impact on theIrish people.These novels capture the moment in the history of Ireland when the British, in a clearsign of imperial dominance, initiated the remapping and reestablishing of the Irish territory.TheBritish also generates a linguistic uncertainty that eventually led to the capitulation of the Gaeliclanguage and placed the colonizing tongue, English.
Chapter One gives an introduction about Irish literature in relation to postcolonial studies,especially the three works under discussion It also provides a literature review of previous studies ofthe chosen novels.Finally, it explains the methodology of this study and the contents of thedissertation.
Chapter Two is devoted to the analysis of Lies of Silence.The novel exhibits the division amongIrish people due to religious and political disputes, and the futility of Irish opposition represented byIRA.It suggests an altemative solution to Irish identity crisis, that is, to redefine Irish identitythrougha national language.Chapter Three deals with the second chosen novel, Reading in the Dark.
It focuses on Deanes perspective in the search of Irish Identity and Irishness with an effort to regainnationalism through Irish language.Chapter Four is about the last novel, At Swim Two Boys.Thisnovel approaches the Irish issues, such as culture, politics, Irish nationalism and language, in a ratherdifferent way.Unlike the previous two works, it is targeted at the issue of nationalism.Traditionally,Irish nationalism is linked to martyrdom, the novel on one hand exhibits Irish national martyrdom,but, on the other, demystifies it and suggests cultural nationalism as an altemative path.
Chapter Five concludes the dissertation which summarizes the previous discussions and restatesthe major arguments given in the dissertation.It also gives further studies on the selectedcontemporary Irish novels.This research attempts to reveal the significance of the Irish novels fromthe postcolonial perspective, yet they have not received due critical attention prior to this study,especially in relation to postcolonialism.It is hoped that the research will help to reassure theirposition as a classic both in Irish literature and in postcolonial literature.