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Singleton, John (2017) ‘The Ireland that We Dreamed of’: Rejecting Convention in John McGahern’s The Dark. NPPSH Reflections, 1. pp. 16-21. ISSN 2565-6031
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Abstract
John McGahern’s second novel
The Dark
, banned upon publication in 1965, is remembered
for shining a light on the darkest aspects of Irish Life: a confessional society that masked
institutionalised physical, mental and sexual abuse, the full ex
tent of which would be exposed
in the Ryan Report (2009). Focusing on the depiction of individual moments of violence,
however, encourages us to view the protagonist as a powerless victim and to disregard the
novel’s central triumph: the rejection of socia
l expectation and the realisation of a ‘real
authority’, independent of family, faith and fatherland.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Ireland; church; state; ideology; oppression; resistance; literature; literary criticism; literary analysis; NPPSH; |
| Academic Unit: | Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > Research Institutes > An Foras Feasa |
| Item ID: | 8301 |
| Depositing User: | NPPSH Editor |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Jun 2017 08:27 |
| Journal or Publication Title: | NPPSH Reflections |
| Publisher: | Maynooth Academic Publishing |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Related URLs: | |
| Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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