Northern Irish Writing After the Troubles: Intimacies, Affects, Pleasures

About the Author

Caroline Magennis is Reader in 20th and 21st Century Literature at the University of Salford, UK. She is the author of Sons of Ulster: Masculinities in the Contemporary Northern Irish Novel (2010).

Bryan Cheyette is Chair in Modern Literature and Culture at the University of Reading. He is the editor or author of ten books, most recently Diasporas of the Mind: Jewish and Postcolonial Writing and the Nightmare of History (2014) and (with Peter Boxall) volume seven of the Oxford History of the Novel in English (on the British and Irish novel, 1940-present) (2016). He reviews contemporary fiction and criticism for the Times Literary Supplement and various newspapers.

Martin Paul Eve is Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. He is the author of Open Access and the Humanities: Contexts, Controversies and the Future (2014); Pynchon and Philosophy: Wittgenstein, Foucault and Adorno (2014); Password (2016); and Literature Against Criticism: University English and Contemporary Fiction in Conflict.

Product Description

The period since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 has seen a sustained decrease in violence and, at the same time, Northern Ireland has undergone a literary renaissance, with a fresh generation of writers exploring innovative literary forms.

This book explores contemporary Northern Irish fiction and how the 'post'-conflict period has led writers to a renewed engagement with intimacy and intimate life. Magennis draws on affect and feminist theory to examine depictions of intimacy, pleasure and the body in their writings and shows how intimate life in Northern Ireland is being reshaped and re-written.

Featuring short reflective pieces from some of today's most compelling Northern Irish Writers, including Lucy Caldwell, Jan Carson, Bernie McGill and David Park, this book provides authoritative insights into how a contemporary engagement with intimacy provides us with new ways to understand Northern Irish identity, selfhood and community.

Review

“I was lucky enough to be an early reader of this book and it brings a radical, humane rush of energy to Northern Irish literary criticism. It's a privilege to be so closely and sharply read alongside so many contemporary writers.” ―Lucy Caldwell, novelist and playwright

“Genuinely innovative. This book offers a refreshingly provocative and much needed critical reassessment of hegemonic readings of Northern Irish fiction. It affirms its timeliness by situating the importance of intimacy, the body, and pleasure not only within the specific context of post-Agreement Northern Ireland but also the current COVID-19 pandemic.” ―Dr Stefanie Lehner, Senior Lecturer in Irish Literature, Queen's University Belfast, UK