Jose Carregal Romero | Huelva University (original) (raw)

Books by Jose Carregal Romero

UCD Press, 2021

Before gay decriminalisation in 1993, there was no solid gay or lesbian tradition in Irish writin... more Before gay decriminalisation in 1993, there was no solid gay or lesbian tradition in Irish writing, due to the political and cultural dominance of a conservative, censorious Catholic ideology that conflated itself with notions of national identity and social respectability. Praised today as a beacon of gay rights, Ireland has become the first nation to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote in 2015. Significantly, whereas in the recent past there was much silence, stigma and prejudice surrounding homosexuality, now there is a plethora of voices reclaiming equality, visibility and recognition. Yet today's liberal culture still silences aspects of gay and lesbian life which go beyond the parameters of the 'socially acceptable' homosexual.

Queer Whispers: Gay and Lesbian Voices in Irish Fiction is the first comprehensive survey of gay and lesbian-themed fiction in Ireland, from the late 1970s until today. The book foregrounds the cultural contribution of Irish writers whose subversive, dissident voices decidedly challenged not only the homophobia and heteronormative values of Catholic Ireland, but also the persistent discrimination of more liberal times. Through the analyses of representative novels and short stories, the book addresses a number of social issues - lesbian invisibility, same-sex parenthood, sexual subcultures, HIV/AIDS and the liberalisation of Ireland, among many others -, considering how these fictions favoured a broader cultural and political awareness of the oppression and silencing of lesbian and gay people over the last decades in Ireland.

The writing explored in Queer Whispers consistently exposes the limitations imposed by silence, and, while doing so, articulates a new language of recognition and resilience of the continued struggles faced by queer Ireland.

EER, 2020

he commemoration of the Easter Rising centenary in 2016 posed the key question of whether - leavi... more he commemoration of the Easter Rising centenary in 2016 posed the key question of whether - leaving aside the revolutionary decade (1913-1923) - it was appropriate to talk about a “revolutionary Ireland”.

The revolutionary decade brought about a change of governance and led to Ireland’s independence, but the new Irish Free State fell short of the proclaimed intentions of the imagined republic.

The new state veered away from the influence of labour and socialism to become an institutional replica, and a staunchly socially conservative one, of the British system.

It was only from the 1960s onwards that Irish society started to open itself up to more liberating social practices and patterns.

This volume offers entirely new work which highlights the historical moments at which it would be possible to talk about a political or social revolution in Ireland, while also considering that in the years when Ireland became “the Celtic Tiger”, certain social involutions took place.

The contributors include independent researchers who write about their topics within a theoretically informed, scholarly, framework. Yet it is precisely their independence from academia that provides their chapters with fresh and multidisciplinary perspectives. Others are well established scholars. It is precisely the wealth of approaches and of disciplines (history, sociology, film studies and literary studies) that enriches the volume and broadens the scope.

This volume discusses the idea of revolution in Ireland from a multi- and inter-disciplinary perspective. It covers, on the one hand, the political revolution, mainly the Easter Rising 1916, and on the other the social transformations that the country underwent following the claims for civil rights and the sexual revolution of the late 1960s both in the USA and Europe. Changes in Northern Ireland resulting from the cease fire declaration of the IRA in 1994 are also examined.

The kind of state – its conservative political regime and social configuration – that emerged after independence points towards the potentially oxymoronic nature of the phrase “revolutionary Ireland.” Yet Ireland’s European location has made the country easily permeable to external influences. These, when allied with Ireland’s process of modernisation, managed to rupture social strictures. Yet, while patterns in religious practice, gender roles and sexuality have inexorably moved towards much more liberal standards, during the decade known as “Celtic Tiger Ireland” the country experienced an involutionary process as regards racism and discrimination against emigrants and asylum seekers.

These studies approach the Easter Rising and the revolutionary period from different perspectives and methodologies: archival research, oral history, postcolonial analysis of documentaries on the Easter Rising, critical discourse analysis of witness statements and research into gendered violence in the Easter Rising aftermath. From this history-based section, the volume shifts to social and cultural issues mainly as refracted and articulated through literature and film: the ground breaking literary work of Edna O’Brien, the shifting grounds for masculinity in Roddy Doyle’s The Van, the radical changes in cinematic representations of the Northern Troubles following the IRA’s cease fire, Evelyn Conlon’s vindication of women’s historical voices and presence, and research into Direct Provision Centres. The volume ends with an interview to political activist and page and performer poet Sarah Clancy and the inclusion of two unpublished poems by her

Papers by Jose Carregal Romero

International Journal of English Studies, 2024

Set in contemporary Ireland, Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021) focuses on the ... more Set in contemporary Ireland, Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021) focuses on the relationship dynamics between characters who struggle with intimacy and human connection, against the backdrop of the individualist ethos and existential anxieties induced by current neoliberal systems. Drawing on care ethics, vulnerability and relationality theory, this analysis of Beautiful World underscores how Rooney constructs her characters’ psychological evolution through their progressive, albeit irregular, adoption of care virtues within relationships. The analysis shall apply Khader’s taxonomy of care virtues (2011), which include “loving attention” –a willingness to appreciate and accommodate the particular nature of the other–, “the transparent self” –an awareness of how our self-interests block our recognition of the other’s needs–, and “narrative understanding”, a desire to engage with the other’s personal history so as to make decisions that promote his/her well-being.

Narratives of the Unspoken in Contemporary Irish Fiction: Silences that Speak, 2023

This chapter provides a critical overview and a theoretical introduction to Narratives of the Uns... more This chapter provides a critical overview and a theoretical introduction to Narratives of the Unspoken in Contemporary Irish Fiction: Silences that Speak. Drawing on a wide range of perspectives and considerations on silence through a broad diversity of themes and functions, this introductory essay reclaims an unprecedented attentiveness to the unspoken in today’s Irish fiction. The chapter argues that in Irish contemporary writing silence features as multivalent and multifaceted: it can function as a form of resistance, a strategy of defiance, empowerment and emancipation, but also a way of covering up stories which remain untold and invisible, thus distorting or directly concealing inconvenient truths from the public eye. Ultimately, as the book itself demonstrates, for contemporary Irish writers, the unspoken is not just a constraint but a productive site of enquiry, a silence that “speaks”.

Narratives of the Unspoken in Contemporary Irish Fiction Silences that Speak, 2023

This chapter explores the multivalent significance of silence in Colm Tóibín’s fiction, from his ... more This chapter explores the multivalent significance of silence in Colm Tóibín’s fiction, from his debut novel The South (1990) to his collection of stories The Empty Family (2010). The chapter considers Colm Tóibín’s use of silence as an aesthetic practice and key narrative element that foregrounds the tensions between revelation and concealment, emotional release and reticence, as well as the ambiguities between knowing and unknowing, which underlie most of his protagonists’ dilemmas. The analysis pays attention to how Tóibín dramatises sexual taboos and traumas—i.e. familial homophobia and AIDS stigma—through narratives that develop within the domain of personal silences. The chapter thus identifies and assesses a discourse of silence running through Tóibín’s oeuvre, which constructs his characters’ psychology as they navigate personal and social pressures, and attempt to come to terms with their emotional truths.

Narratives of the Unspoken in Contemporary Irish Fiction: Silences that Speak, 2023

This chapter draws on care ethics and vulnerability theory to explore Sally Rooney’s Conversation... more This chapter draws on care ethics and vulnerability theory to explore Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends (2017) and Normal People (2018) as novels that delve into contexts of silence and dysfunction in the lives of Irish millennials who experience their vulnerability as unspeakable, as a sign of weakness and abnormality in a competitive, individualistic world. The analysis details the ways in which Rooney’s characters adopt strategies such as passing, concealment and ironic distance, and how their anxieties highlight the injustices and contradictions of their neoliberal culture. This chapter ultimately argues that, even though in both novels plot events foreground the lies, omissions and frustrations of dysfunctional silences, a silence of refusal progressively emerges whereby Rooney’s protagonists evade social expectations, abandon previous pretences and begin to establish a more honest and caring relationship with their significant others.

New Hibernia Review, 2019

One of the most renowned and critically acclaimed gay fiction writers of contemporary Ireland, Ke... more One of the most renowned and critically acclaimed gay fiction writers of contemporary Ireland, Keith Ridgway emerged in the 1990s as a powerful and innovative literary voice concerned with the rapid changes taking place in Irish society. 1 Both Ridgway's 2001 story "Angelo," which appeared in his collection Standard Time (awarded the prestigious Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2001) and his novel The Parts (2003) foreground the injustice, alienation, and social divides of Celtic Tiger Dublin. In a 2012 interview, Ridgway remarks that in those years, Dublin "became a parody of gross commercialism and consumerism." 2 His fiction is highly critical of the neoliberal ethos of Celtic Tiger Ireland. Katherine O'Donnell notes that, even though the poor in The Parts "are occluded in the noise of the economic boom [and] repressed from the dominant social imaginery," they nonetheless "haunt the text." 3 Despite his profound social critique, Ridgway does not succumb to a moralistic treatment of his subject matter, opting instead for a compelling use of black comedy and sarcasm. In terms of style and content, Ridgway's fiction also becomes representative of a contemporary trend in Irish literature, with authors who typically deal with socially silenced topics and identities. "Much Irish Literature," according to a recent article, "has moved away from dominant discourses and found an alternative strategy of representation that incorporates silence as a discursive tool in its own right." 4 Silence, as Robin Patric Clair has theorized, is embedded in (p. 123) language, as "creating and recreating our social realities" through the "organizing" of knowledge. 5

Estudios Irlandeses, 2019

Northern Irish writer Jarlath Gregory became a fresh voice in Irish gay writing when Snapshots ca... more Northern Irish writer Jarlath Gregory became a fresh voice in Irish gay writing when Snapshots came out in 2001, a novel which explores gay experience in Crossmaglen-a Catholic town in Co. Armagh-against the backdrop of the Troubles. Since then, he has published two other novels: G.A.A.Y.: One Hundred Ways to Love a Beautiful Loser (2005), which depicts gay life in 1990s Dublin, and The Organised Criminal (2015), where he offers valuable insights into the Northern Irish underworld of smuggling and cross-border criminality. The present interview, while aiming to fill the gap in criticism on Gregory's brilliant novels, provides a series of reflections on gay fiction, homophobia and post-Troubles Northern Ireland. Resumen. El escritor norirlandés Jarlath Gregory emergió como una voz literaria novedosa cuando, en el año 2001, publicó Snapshots, donde relata cómo es vivir como homosexual en Crossmaglen-un pueblo católico en el condado de Armagh, Irlanda del Norte-con el conflicto de los "Troubles" como trasfondo. Gregory ha publicado otras dos novelas: G.A.A.Y.: One Hundred Ways to Love a Beautiful Loser (2005), que describe la vida gay en el Dublín de los años noventa, The Organised Criminal (2015), que trata sobre el contrabando y el crimen organizado en la frontera norirlandesa. A pesar de que sus obras ofrecen visiones muy interesantes sobre la sociedad irlandesa, la crítica que se ha escrito sobre sus novelas es todavía escasa. Los temas a tratar en esta entrevista son la ficción gay, la homofobia y la "post-Troubles" Irlanda del Norte. Palabras clave. Literatura gay, homofobia, Jarlath Gregory, Irlanda del Norte, literatura contemporánea irlandesa

Irish University Review, 2018

Set in 1960 and 1970s Enniscorthy, Colm Tóibín's Nora Webster is narrated from the perspective of... more Set in 1960 and 1970s Enniscorthy, Colm Tóibín's Nora Webster is narrated from the perspective of the recently widowed mother, Nora, who has to deal with bereavement, heed her two young sons and acquire a new familial role as a breadwinner while keeping all her responsibilities as a mother. This article contemplates the ways in which the socio-cultural construction of widowhood hampers the protagonist's progression towards a renewed sense of self, away from a grief-based identity as a widow. As shall be explained, Nora Webster requires to be read in light of the social expectations attached to traditional norms of grief and the expectations of widowhood in patriarchal Ireland.

Études Irlandaises, 2018

Set in the 1950s, Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn (2009) traces the life experiences of Eilis Lacey, who i... more Set in the 1950s, Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn (2009) traces the life experiences of Eilis Lacey,
who is urged by her family to migrate to Brooklyn due to the lack of opportunities for young women in her native Enniscorthy, a small town in rural Ireland. Just as she begins to establish a new life in America, a tragic event at home calls her back to Ireland. During her visit, Eilis faces the terrible dilemma of having to choose between her sense of familial duty and the fulfillment of her own desires. In his novel, Tóibín provides a subtle and complex portrayal of the socio-familial pressures affecting the life of the protagonist, whose unverbalised thoughts speak for the decisions she is not allowed to make. In this way, Tóibín denounces the historical and cultural silences surrounding the subjectivity of the Irish female migrant.

Studi Irlandesi, 2018

The present study focuses on two of Colm Tóibín's gay short-stories – " Entiendes " (1993) and " ... more The present study focuses on two of Colm Tóibín's gay short-stories – " Entiendes " (1993) and " One Minus One " (2010) – in which the homosexual son meditates on his attachment to the dead mother. In both texts, Tóibín characterises the mother-son bond as being fraught with silence, resentment and lack of communication. In " One Minus One " and " Entiendes " , the son's closeted homosexu-ality coexists with familial legacies of shame, uneasiness and duplicity. The central characters in the two texts are similar, as they experience the same type of existential exile, solitude and alienation derived from their complex attachments to home and family. As shall be explained, the author dwells on the damaging effects of familial homophobia, highlighting the limitations of the dominant heteronormative family model to accommodate gay sensibilities.

Moderna språk, 2017

Published in the context of the legal reformations and the public debates about the separation be... more Published in the context of the legal reformations and the public debates about the separation between Church and State in the early 1990s Ireland, Colm Tóibín's The Heather Blazing (1992) centers round the personal and professional life of Eamon Redmond, a conservative judge in a changing society. This essay will focus on an episode where a pregnant schoolgirl denounces her Catholic school authorities for their decision to expel her. My analysis will also draw on the unpublished version of the same episode, which features the actual case of Eileen Flynn, a teacher who was dismissed because she was an unmarried mother living with her baby's father, a married man himself. Significantly, whereas in the earlier version Tóibín engages with the issue of divorce, in the published text he further develops his criticism over society's punitive treatment of unmarried mothers. As will be argued, while exploring the tensions between the personal and the political, Tóibín offers in The Heather Blazing a subversive rewriting of the centrality of the Catholic family as a unit of social cohesion and control in Ireland. This essay will also situate Tóibín's novel through his journalism, as well as through an account of the shifting sexual, social and religious realities and pressures of twentieth century Ireland.

Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 2017

Colm Tóibín is one of the most prominent literary voices in Ireland today, but he had to face eno... more Colm Tóibín is one of the most prominent literary voices in Ireland today, but he had to face enormous difficulties in having his first novel, The South (1990), published. In this article, I will look at the 1986 manuscript of the novel—on file in the National Library of Ireland—and argue that after all his revisions, Tóibín softened the protagonist’s characterization as an “abject” mother and sanitized the language of her sexual feelings. Central to this essay will be the idea that when Tóibín wrote The South in the 1980s, the expression of sexual desire was often censored and seen as obscene, immoral, and shocking. As I intend to show, the sexual frankness that Tóibín’s main character displays in the earlier version of The South was unacceptable at the time, and this can be one of the reasons why so many publishers rejected the novel.

PLL: Papers on Language and Literature, 2016

Set in early 1990s rural Ireland, Colm Tóibín's The Blackwater Lightship (1999) concerns itself w... more Set in early 1990s rural Ireland, Colm Tóibín's The Blackwater Lightship (1999) concerns itself with three generations of a family and their need to overcome old conflicts. The novel tells the story of Declan, a young gay man in his twenties dying of AIDS. His illness and impending death become the catalyst for his reunification with his grandmother Dora, his mother Lily, and his sister Helen at their house in Cush, the locus of familial breakdown in the past. They are also joined by Declan's gay friends, Paul and Larry, who acted as his surrogate family during his earlier stages of AIDS. As is the case in his two first novels, The South and The Heather Blazing, Tóibín explores in The Blackwater Lightship some of his favourite topics: the fractured family, the dichotomy between past and present, as well as the tensions between revealing and concealing one's own intimate emotions. As critics have pointed out (McMullen, 2004;

In Belén Martín-Lucas and Merlinda Bobis, eds., The Transnational Story Hub: Between Self and Other. Centre d'Estudis Australians, Universitat de Barcelona, 2016

Atlantis: The Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies , 2015

Colm Tóibín’s narrator in “The Pearl Fishers” (The Empty Family, 2010) is a middle-aged homosexua... more Colm Tóibín’s narrator in “The Pearl Fishers” (The Empty Family, 2010) is a middle-aged homosexual man who shares dinner with two friends from school, Gráinne and Donnacha, a married couple and faithful representatives of the Irish laity. To the narrator’s surprise, Gráinne announces her intention to publish a book detailing her sexual abuse by Father Moorehouse when he was her teacher. Gráinne’s husband, Donnacha, is the man with whom the narrator had a passionate love affair during their adolescence. Donnacha enforces silence on this issue, so their story remains unspoken and consigned to secrecy. Tóibín’s short story deals with the consequences of an Irish legacy of ignorance and taboos concerning sex. This essay will thus delve into questions regarding Irish culture, the antagonistic but ambiguous connection between the Church and homosexuality, as well as the shame and silence traditionally attached to sex. Tóibín seems to adopt a critical approach to Irish society, complicating public debates surrounding Ireland’s sexual past and the Church scandals. As will be argued, Tóibín does not propose in his story a totalising and explanatory view on the nature of the Irish sexual past, but rather he offers a thorough exploration of its ambiguities and complexities. Keywords: Colm Tóibín; Catholic Church; Irish sexual history; male homosexuality; Church scandals; Ireland

Papers on Joyce, 2014

Although the plots of James Joyce's short-story " Eveline " (1904) and Colm Tóibín's novel Brookl... more Although the plots of James Joyce's short-story " Eveline " (1904) and Colm Tóibín's novel Brooklyn (2009) differ in many aspects, both texts can be read as nuanced examinations of Irish female mobility in the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on the depiction of the two characters' social milieu, this essay will discuss the circumstances which define mobility in each individual text in order to argue that both Brooklyn and " Eveline " may well be read as similar representations of the tensions that both protagonists experience as they are forced to choose between duty and desire. Ultimately, the essay contends that Joyce and Tóibín construct two stories of female mobility which implicitly undermine the master narrative that proclaims: " an Irish woman proper place is the home " .

Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses, 2013

Even though the Virgin Mary is one of the most popular characters of The New Testament, she appea... more Even though the Virgin Mary is one of the most popular characters of The New Testament, she appears very little and is almost silently passed over. However, the devotion to Mary has turned her into a powerful icon of religious folklore in many Catholic societies. In Ireland, the Virgin has often been used as a figure for cultural nationalism, characterised by its religious orthodoxy, rigid moral codes and a staunch defense of patriarchy. In The Testament of Mary (2012), Irish author Colm Tóibín, a lapsed Catholic and anti-traditionalist intellectual, rewrites the cultural icon of the Virgin and offers a humane, complex and highly subversive portrait of this legendary mother. Exiled in Ephesus, the Virgin feels repelled by the constant visits of her " guardians " , who want her to recount the event of the Crucifixion. It is soon revealed that the apostles are trying to appropriate her voice and experiences, as Mary readily intimates that one of the guardians " has written of things that neither he saw nor I saw " (5). The questions of voice, agency and performance become essential in the reshaping of narratives of cultural identity. Thus, the novel dramatises the importance of articulating one's own voice through Mary's urge " to tell the truth of what happened " (82) on her own terms.

ES: Revista de Filología Inglesa, 2013

Estudios Irlandeses, 2012

In nationalist Ireland, definitions of family have traditionally followed a hetero-normative and ... more In nationalist Ireland, definitions of family have traditionally followed a hetero-normative and sexist pattern whereby husbands and wives fulfilled deeply unequal roles. Moreover, the notion of family has been too often idealized as a site of peace and unconditional love, its members being united by unbreakable bonds of mutual affection. In Colm Tóibín's fiction, " traditional " families tend to be dysfunctional and the relations between their members become strained because of emotional distance, regrets and distrust. However, Tóibín's protagonists do find their sense of home and domesticity outside the traditional parameters of family. In this regard, this paper intends to analyze the manner in which Tóibín destabilizes canonical definitions through his revisionist agenda and his inscription of alternative forms of family. In order to shed light on these points, I shall refer to his novels The South (1990), The Heather Blazing (1992), The Blackwater Lightship (1999) and his short stories " A Long Winter " (Mothers and Sons, 2006), " Two Women " and " The Street " (The Empty Family, 2010).

UCD Press, 2021

Before gay decriminalisation in 1993, there was no solid gay or lesbian tradition in Irish writin... more Before gay decriminalisation in 1993, there was no solid gay or lesbian tradition in Irish writing, due to the political and cultural dominance of a conservative, censorious Catholic ideology that conflated itself with notions of national identity and social respectability. Praised today as a beacon of gay rights, Ireland has become the first nation to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote in 2015. Significantly, whereas in the recent past there was much silence, stigma and prejudice surrounding homosexuality, now there is a plethora of voices reclaiming equality, visibility and recognition. Yet today's liberal culture still silences aspects of gay and lesbian life which go beyond the parameters of the 'socially acceptable' homosexual.

Queer Whispers: Gay and Lesbian Voices in Irish Fiction is the first comprehensive survey of gay and lesbian-themed fiction in Ireland, from the late 1970s until today. The book foregrounds the cultural contribution of Irish writers whose subversive, dissident voices decidedly challenged not only the homophobia and heteronormative values of Catholic Ireland, but also the persistent discrimination of more liberal times. Through the analyses of representative novels and short stories, the book addresses a number of social issues - lesbian invisibility, same-sex parenthood, sexual subcultures, HIV/AIDS and the liberalisation of Ireland, among many others -, considering how these fictions favoured a broader cultural and political awareness of the oppression and silencing of lesbian and gay people over the last decades in Ireland.

The writing explored in Queer Whispers consistently exposes the limitations imposed by silence, and, while doing so, articulates a new language of recognition and resilience of the continued struggles faced by queer Ireland.

EER, 2020

he commemoration of the Easter Rising centenary in 2016 posed the key question of whether - leavi... more he commemoration of the Easter Rising centenary in 2016 posed the key question of whether - leaving aside the revolutionary decade (1913-1923) - it was appropriate to talk about a “revolutionary Ireland”.

The revolutionary decade brought about a change of governance and led to Ireland’s independence, but the new Irish Free State fell short of the proclaimed intentions of the imagined republic.

The new state veered away from the influence of labour and socialism to become an institutional replica, and a staunchly socially conservative one, of the British system.

It was only from the 1960s onwards that Irish society started to open itself up to more liberating social practices and patterns.

This volume offers entirely new work which highlights the historical moments at which it would be possible to talk about a political or social revolution in Ireland, while also considering that in the years when Ireland became “the Celtic Tiger”, certain social involutions took place.

The contributors include independent researchers who write about their topics within a theoretically informed, scholarly, framework. Yet it is precisely their independence from academia that provides their chapters with fresh and multidisciplinary perspectives. Others are well established scholars. It is precisely the wealth of approaches and of disciplines (history, sociology, film studies and literary studies) that enriches the volume and broadens the scope.

This volume discusses the idea of revolution in Ireland from a multi- and inter-disciplinary perspective. It covers, on the one hand, the political revolution, mainly the Easter Rising 1916, and on the other the social transformations that the country underwent following the claims for civil rights and the sexual revolution of the late 1960s both in the USA and Europe. Changes in Northern Ireland resulting from the cease fire declaration of the IRA in 1994 are also examined.

The kind of state – its conservative political regime and social configuration – that emerged after independence points towards the potentially oxymoronic nature of the phrase “revolutionary Ireland.” Yet Ireland’s European location has made the country easily permeable to external influences. These, when allied with Ireland’s process of modernisation, managed to rupture social strictures. Yet, while patterns in religious practice, gender roles and sexuality have inexorably moved towards much more liberal standards, during the decade known as “Celtic Tiger Ireland” the country experienced an involutionary process as regards racism and discrimination against emigrants and asylum seekers.

These studies approach the Easter Rising and the revolutionary period from different perspectives and methodologies: archival research, oral history, postcolonial analysis of documentaries on the Easter Rising, critical discourse analysis of witness statements and research into gendered violence in the Easter Rising aftermath. From this history-based section, the volume shifts to social and cultural issues mainly as refracted and articulated through literature and film: the ground breaking literary work of Edna O’Brien, the shifting grounds for masculinity in Roddy Doyle’s The Van, the radical changes in cinematic representations of the Northern Troubles following the IRA’s cease fire, Evelyn Conlon’s vindication of women’s historical voices and presence, and research into Direct Provision Centres. The volume ends with an interview to political activist and page and performer poet Sarah Clancy and the inclusion of two unpublished poems by her

International Journal of English Studies, 2024

Set in contemporary Ireland, Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021) focuses on the ... more Set in contemporary Ireland, Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021) focuses on the relationship dynamics between characters who struggle with intimacy and human connection, against the backdrop of the individualist ethos and existential anxieties induced by current neoliberal systems. Drawing on care ethics, vulnerability and relationality theory, this analysis of Beautiful World underscores how Rooney constructs her characters’ psychological evolution through their progressive, albeit irregular, adoption of care virtues within relationships. The analysis shall apply Khader’s taxonomy of care virtues (2011), which include “loving attention” –a willingness to appreciate and accommodate the particular nature of the other–, “the transparent self” –an awareness of how our self-interests block our recognition of the other’s needs–, and “narrative understanding”, a desire to engage with the other’s personal history so as to make decisions that promote his/her well-being.

Narratives of the Unspoken in Contemporary Irish Fiction: Silences that Speak, 2023

This chapter provides a critical overview and a theoretical introduction to Narratives of the Uns... more This chapter provides a critical overview and a theoretical introduction to Narratives of the Unspoken in Contemporary Irish Fiction: Silences that Speak. Drawing on a wide range of perspectives and considerations on silence through a broad diversity of themes and functions, this introductory essay reclaims an unprecedented attentiveness to the unspoken in today’s Irish fiction. The chapter argues that in Irish contemporary writing silence features as multivalent and multifaceted: it can function as a form of resistance, a strategy of defiance, empowerment and emancipation, but also a way of covering up stories which remain untold and invisible, thus distorting or directly concealing inconvenient truths from the public eye. Ultimately, as the book itself demonstrates, for contemporary Irish writers, the unspoken is not just a constraint but a productive site of enquiry, a silence that “speaks”.

Narratives of the Unspoken in Contemporary Irish Fiction Silences that Speak, 2023

This chapter explores the multivalent significance of silence in Colm Tóibín’s fiction, from his ... more This chapter explores the multivalent significance of silence in Colm Tóibín’s fiction, from his debut novel The South (1990) to his collection of stories The Empty Family (2010). The chapter considers Colm Tóibín’s use of silence as an aesthetic practice and key narrative element that foregrounds the tensions between revelation and concealment, emotional release and reticence, as well as the ambiguities between knowing and unknowing, which underlie most of his protagonists’ dilemmas. The analysis pays attention to how Tóibín dramatises sexual taboos and traumas—i.e. familial homophobia and AIDS stigma—through narratives that develop within the domain of personal silences. The chapter thus identifies and assesses a discourse of silence running through Tóibín’s oeuvre, which constructs his characters’ psychology as they navigate personal and social pressures, and attempt to come to terms with their emotional truths.

Narratives of the Unspoken in Contemporary Irish Fiction: Silences that Speak, 2023

This chapter draws on care ethics and vulnerability theory to explore Sally Rooney’s Conversation... more This chapter draws on care ethics and vulnerability theory to explore Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends (2017) and Normal People (2018) as novels that delve into contexts of silence and dysfunction in the lives of Irish millennials who experience their vulnerability as unspeakable, as a sign of weakness and abnormality in a competitive, individualistic world. The analysis details the ways in which Rooney’s characters adopt strategies such as passing, concealment and ironic distance, and how their anxieties highlight the injustices and contradictions of their neoliberal culture. This chapter ultimately argues that, even though in both novels plot events foreground the lies, omissions and frustrations of dysfunctional silences, a silence of refusal progressively emerges whereby Rooney’s protagonists evade social expectations, abandon previous pretences and begin to establish a more honest and caring relationship with their significant others.

New Hibernia Review, 2019

One of the most renowned and critically acclaimed gay fiction writers of contemporary Ireland, Ke... more One of the most renowned and critically acclaimed gay fiction writers of contemporary Ireland, Keith Ridgway emerged in the 1990s as a powerful and innovative literary voice concerned with the rapid changes taking place in Irish society. 1 Both Ridgway's 2001 story "Angelo," which appeared in his collection Standard Time (awarded the prestigious Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2001) and his novel The Parts (2003) foreground the injustice, alienation, and social divides of Celtic Tiger Dublin. In a 2012 interview, Ridgway remarks that in those years, Dublin "became a parody of gross commercialism and consumerism." 2 His fiction is highly critical of the neoliberal ethos of Celtic Tiger Ireland. Katherine O'Donnell notes that, even though the poor in The Parts "are occluded in the noise of the economic boom [and] repressed from the dominant social imaginery," they nonetheless "haunt the text." 3 Despite his profound social critique, Ridgway does not succumb to a moralistic treatment of his subject matter, opting instead for a compelling use of black comedy and sarcasm. In terms of style and content, Ridgway's fiction also becomes representative of a contemporary trend in Irish literature, with authors who typically deal with socially silenced topics and identities. "Much Irish Literature," according to a recent article, "has moved away from dominant discourses and found an alternative strategy of representation that incorporates silence as a discursive tool in its own right." 4 Silence, as Robin Patric Clair has theorized, is embedded in (p. 123) language, as "creating and recreating our social realities" through the "organizing" of knowledge. 5

Estudios Irlandeses, 2019

Northern Irish writer Jarlath Gregory became a fresh voice in Irish gay writing when Snapshots ca... more Northern Irish writer Jarlath Gregory became a fresh voice in Irish gay writing when Snapshots came out in 2001, a novel which explores gay experience in Crossmaglen-a Catholic town in Co. Armagh-against the backdrop of the Troubles. Since then, he has published two other novels: G.A.A.Y.: One Hundred Ways to Love a Beautiful Loser (2005), which depicts gay life in 1990s Dublin, and The Organised Criminal (2015), where he offers valuable insights into the Northern Irish underworld of smuggling and cross-border criminality. The present interview, while aiming to fill the gap in criticism on Gregory's brilliant novels, provides a series of reflections on gay fiction, homophobia and post-Troubles Northern Ireland. Resumen. El escritor norirlandés Jarlath Gregory emergió como una voz literaria novedosa cuando, en el año 2001, publicó Snapshots, donde relata cómo es vivir como homosexual en Crossmaglen-un pueblo católico en el condado de Armagh, Irlanda del Norte-con el conflicto de los "Troubles" como trasfondo. Gregory ha publicado otras dos novelas: G.A.A.Y.: One Hundred Ways to Love a Beautiful Loser (2005), que describe la vida gay en el Dublín de los años noventa, The Organised Criminal (2015), que trata sobre el contrabando y el crimen organizado en la frontera norirlandesa. A pesar de que sus obras ofrecen visiones muy interesantes sobre la sociedad irlandesa, la crítica que se ha escrito sobre sus novelas es todavía escasa. Los temas a tratar en esta entrevista son la ficción gay, la homofobia y la "post-Troubles" Irlanda del Norte. Palabras clave. Literatura gay, homofobia, Jarlath Gregory, Irlanda del Norte, literatura contemporánea irlandesa

Irish University Review, 2018

Set in 1960 and 1970s Enniscorthy, Colm Tóibín's Nora Webster is narrated from the perspective of... more Set in 1960 and 1970s Enniscorthy, Colm Tóibín's Nora Webster is narrated from the perspective of the recently widowed mother, Nora, who has to deal with bereavement, heed her two young sons and acquire a new familial role as a breadwinner while keeping all her responsibilities as a mother. This article contemplates the ways in which the socio-cultural construction of widowhood hampers the protagonist's progression towards a renewed sense of self, away from a grief-based identity as a widow. As shall be explained, Nora Webster requires to be read in light of the social expectations attached to traditional norms of grief and the expectations of widowhood in patriarchal Ireland.

Études Irlandaises, 2018

Set in the 1950s, Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn (2009) traces the life experiences of Eilis Lacey, who i... more Set in the 1950s, Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn (2009) traces the life experiences of Eilis Lacey,
who is urged by her family to migrate to Brooklyn due to the lack of opportunities for young women in her native Enniscorthy, a small town in rural Ireland. Just as she begins to establish a new life in America, a tragic event at home calls her back to Ireland. During her visit, Eilis faces the terrible dilemma of having to choose between her sense of familial duty and the fulfillment of her own desires. In his novel, Tóibín provides a subtle and complex portrayal of the socio-familial pressures affecting the life of the protagonist, whose unverbalised thoughts speak for the decisions she is not allowed to make. In this way, Tóibín denounces the historical and cultural silences surrounding the subjectivity of the Irish female migrant.

Studi Irlandesi, 2018

The present study focuses on two of Colm Tóibín's gay short-stories – " Entiendes " (1993) and " ... more The present study focuses on two of Colm Tóibín's gay short-stories – " Entiendes " (1993) and " One Minus One " (2010) – in which the homosexual son meditates on his attachment to the dead mother. In both texts, Tóibín characterises the mother-son bond as being fraught with silence, resentment and lack of communication. In " One Minus One " and " Entiendes " , the son's closeted homosexu-ality coexists with familial legacies of shame, uneasiness and duplicity. The central characters in the two texts are similar, as they experience the same type of existential exile, solitude and alienation derived from their complex attachments to home and family. As shall be explained, the author dwells on the damaging effects of familial homophobia, highlighting the limitations of the dominant heteronormative family model to accommodate gay sensibilities.

Moderna språk, 2017

Published in the context of the legal reformations and the public debates about the separation be... more Published in the context of the legal reformations and the public debates about the separation between Church and State in the early 1990s Ireland, Colm Tóibín's The Heather Blazing (1992) centers round the personal and professional life of Eamon Redmond, a conservative judge in a changing society. This essay will focus on an episode where a pregnant schoolgirl denounces her Catholic school authorities for their decision to expel her. My analysis will also draw on the unpublished version of the same episode, which features the actual case of Eileen Flynn, a teacher who was dismissed because she was an unmarried mother living with her baby's father, a married man himself. Significantly, whereas in the earlier version Tóibín engages with the issue of divorce, in the published text he further develops his criticism over society's punitive treatment of unmarried mothers. As will be argued, while exploring the tensions between the personal and the political, Tóibín offers in The Heather Blazing a subversive rewriting of the centrality of the Catholic family as a unit of social cohesion and control in Ireland. This essay will also situate Tóibín's novel through his journalism, as well as through an account of the shifting sexual, social and religious realities and pressures of twentieth century Ireland.

Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 2017

Colm Tóibín is one of the most prominent literary voices in Ireland today, but he had to face eno... more Colm Tóibín is one of the most prominent literary voices in Ireland today, but he had to face enormous difficulties in having his first novel, The South (1990), published. In this article, I will look at the 1986 manuscript of the novel—on file in the National Library of Ireland—and argue that after all his revisions, Tóibín softened the protagonist’s characterization as an “abject” mother and sanitized the language of her sexual feelings. Central to this essay will be the idea that when Tóibín wrote The South in the 1980s, the expression of sexual desire was often censored and seen as obscene, immoral, and shocking. As I intend to show, the sexual frankness that Tóibín’s main character displays in the earlier version of The South was unacceptable at the time, and this can be one of the reasons why so many publishers rejected the novel.

PLL: Papers on Language and Literature, 2016

Set in early 1990s rural Ireland, Colm Tóibín's The Blackwater Lightship (1999) concerns itself w... more Set in early 1990s rural Ireland, Colm Tóibín's The Blackwater Lightship (1999) concerns itself with three generations of a family and their need to overcome old conflicts. The novel tells the story of Declan, a young gay man in his twenties dying of AIDS. His illness and impending death become the catalyst for his reunification with his grandmother Dora, his mother Lily, and his sister Helen at their house in Cush, the locus of familial breakdown in the past. They are also joined by Declan's gay friends, Paul and Larry, who acted as his surrogate family during his earlier stages of AIDS. As is the case in his two first novels, The South and The Heather Blazing, Tóibín explores in The Blackwater Lightship some of his favourite topics: the fractured family, the dichotomy between past and present, as well as the tensions between revealing and concealing one's own intimate emotions. As critics have pointed out (McMullen, 2004;

In Belén Martín-Lucas and Merlinda Bobis, eds., The Transnational Story Hub: Between Self and Other. Centre d'Estudis Australians, Universitat de Barcelona, 2016

Atlantis: The Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies , 2015

Colm Tóibín’s narrator in “The Pearl Fishers” (The Empty Family, 2010) is a middle-aged homosexua... more Colm Tóibín’s narrator in “The Pearl Fishers” (The Empty Family, 2010) is a middle-aged homosexual man who shares dinner with two friends from school, Gráinne and Donnacha, a married couple and faithful representatives of the Irish laity. To the narrator’s surprise, Gráinne announces her intention to publish a book detailing her sexual abuse by Father Moorehouse when he was her teacher. Gráinne’s husband, Donnacha, is the man with whom the narrator had a passionate love affair during their adolescence. Donnacha enforces silence on this issue, so their story remains unspoken and consigned to secrecy. Tóibín’s short story deals with the consequences of an Irish legacy of ignorance and taboos concerning sex. This essay will thus delve into questions regarding Irish culture, the antagonistic but ambiguous connection between the Church and homosexuality, as well as the shame and silence traditionally attached to sex. Tóibín seems to adopt a critical approach to Irish society, complicating public debates surrounding Ireland’s sexual past and the Church scandals. As will be argued, Tóibín does not propose in his story a totalising and explanatory view on the nature of the Irish sexual past, but rather he offers a thorough exploration of its ambiguities and complexities. Keywords: Colm Tóibín; Catholic Church; Irish sexual history; male homosexuality; Church scandals; Ireland

Papers on Joyce, 2014

Although the plots of James Joyce's short-story " Eveline " (1904) and Colm Tóibín's novel Brookl... more Although the plots of James Joyce's short-story " Eveline " (1904) and Colm Tóibín's novel Brooklyn (2009) differ in many aspects, both texts can be read as nuanced examinations of Irish female mobility in the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on the depiction of the two characters' social milieu, this essay will discuss the circumstances which define mobility in each individual text in order to argue that both Brooklyn and " Eveline " may well be read as similar representations of the tensions that both protagonists experience as they are forced to choose between duty and desire. Ultimately, the essay contends that Joyce and Tóibín construct two stories of female mobility which implicitly undermine the master narrative that proclaims: " an Irish woman proper place is the home " .

Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses, 2013

Even though the Virgin Mary is one of the most popular characters of The New Testament, she appea... more Even though the Virgin Mary is one of the most popular characters of The New Testament, she appears very little and is almost silently passed over. However, the devotion to Mary has turned her into a powerful icon of religious folklore in many Catholic societies. In Ireland, the Virgin has often been used as a figure for cultural nationalism, characterised by its religious orthodoxy, rigid moral codes and a staunch defense of patriarchy. In The Testament of Mary (2012), Irish author Colm Tóibín, a lapsed Catholic and anti-traditionalist intellectual, rewrites the cultural icon of the Virgin and offers a humane, complex and highly subversive portrait of this legendary mother. Exiled in Ephesus, the Virgin feels repelled by the constant visits of her " guardians " , who want her to recount the event of the Crucifixion. It is soon revealed that the apostles are trying to appropriate her voice and experiences, as Mary readily intimates that one of the guardians " has written of things that neither he saw nor I saw " (5). The questions of voice, agency and performance become essential in the reshaping of narratives of cultural identity. Thus, the novel dramatises the importance of articulating one's own voice through Mary's urge " to tell the truth of what happened " (82) on her own terms.

ES: Revista de Filología Inglesa, 2013

Estudios Irlandeses, 2012

In nationalist Ireland, definitions of family have traditionally followed a hetero-normative and ... more In nationalist Ireland, definitions of family have traditionally followed a hetero-normative and sexist pattern whereby husbands and wives fulfilled deeply unequal roles. Moreover, the notion of family has been too often idealized as a site of peace and unconditional love, its members being united by unbreakable bonds of mutual affection. In Colm Tóibín's fiction, " traditional " families tend to be dysfunctional and the relations between their members become strained because of emotional distance, regrets and distrust. However, Tóibín's protagonists do find their sense of home and domesticity outside the traditional parameters of family. In this regard, this paper intends to analyze the manner in which Tóibín destabilizes canonical definitions through his revisionist agenda and his inscription of alternative forms of family. In order to shed light on these points, I shall refer to his novels The South (1990), The Heather Blazing (1992), The Blackwater Lightship (1999) and his short stories " A Long Winter " (Mothers and Sons, 2006), " Two Women " and " The Street " (The Empty Family, 2010).

Anuario de Investigación en Literatura Infantil y Juvenil, 2012

Resumen El libro de An Na, A Step from Heaven (2002), es una novela de iniciación que relata el c... more Resumen El libro de An Na, A Step from Heaven (2002), es una novela de iniciación que relata el crecimiento emocional de su protagonista, Young Ju, tras haber emigrado desde Corea hasta Estados Unidos con cuatro años de edad. A través de la perspectiva de la protagonista, los lectores se ven implicados en las crudas realidades en las que su familia irremediablemente se encuentra. Estas condiciones incluyen pobreza, marginalización social, desorientación cultural y violencia en el ámbito doméstico. Sin embargo, la novela no tiene una visión totalmente fatalista, ya que Young Ju será capaz de superar todas estas dificultades para construir un futuro mejor. En el presente trabajo trataré de demostrar que, en nuestro mundo global y multicultural, novelas como A Step from Heaven son necesarias para conseguir que los lectores jóvenes comprendan estas complejas y duras realidades sociales. Para cualquier niño o adolescente en condiciones similares, siempre será positivo encontrar libros cuyos protagonistas, como es el caso de Young Ju, les ofrezcan un ejemplo de fortaleza, valentía y optimismo. Palabras clave: novela de iniciación, diáspora, emigración, hibridización, multiculturalismo, violencia de género. Abstract An Na's A Step from Heaven (2002) is a coming of age novel that follows the emotional maturation of its protagonist, Young Ju, who migrated from Korea to the United States at the age of four. Through the heroine's perspective, readers become involved in the grim conditions the family is forced to face, such as poverty, social marginalization, cultural dislocation and domestic violence. However, the novel avoids a totally tragic and fatalistic approach to its subject matter, since Young Ju is finally able to overcome all suffering and find the promise of a better future. As will be argued, novels such as A Step from Heaven tackle harsh and complex issues-widely present in today's multicultural and globalized world — that need to be understood by young adults for them to grow awareness of these social realities. For children and adolescents in similar conditions, it is always reassuring to read books peopled with individuals who, as in the case of Na's heroine, set a positive example of endurance, courage and optimism.

Weaving New Perspectives Together. (eds) María Alonso et al., 2012