View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Lirias KU Leuven Faculteit Letteren The Short Story Cycle in Ireland: From Jane Barlow to Donal Ryan Debbie Brouckmans Promotor: prof. dr. Elke D’hoker Proefschrift aangeboden tot het verkrijgen van de graad van Doctor in de Letterkunde Leuven 2015 In memory of Ally and for Zooey In a world like this… I’ve got you Preface Although I count myself fortunate for having been given the opportunity to write this dissertation, the process did not pass off without a hitch. There were some funding difficulties, as a result of which I was not able to spend as much time working on this project as I would have liked to. Moreover, after one year of research, I went through the terrifying experience of sustaining a fracture to the second cervical vertebrae in a riding accident. Six difficult months of convalescence followed, but eventually I got back on the horse – literally and figuratively. Even though it was challenging to take up my life and work again due to the serious impact this accident had on my health, I am very happy that I persevered. I would not have been able to do so without the support of the diverse group of people that shaped my life during the last few years. First of all, I am greatly indebted to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Elke D’hoker, not only for selecting me to work on this project, but also for the trouble she has taken to ensure that I had the means to complete it. I am glad that she introduced me to the fascinating field of Irish Studies, and I thank her for her willingness to read and reread my work countless times, as well as for the extensive feedback she provided. I learned a great deal from working with her, and I cannot stress enough how much this dissertation benefited from her academic expertise. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the other members of my supervising committee, Prof. Dr. Heather Ingman and Prof. Dr. Hedwig Schwall, whose feedback and insightful suggestions were of crucial importance to this project. Obviously, I am grateful to the KU Leuven for having given me the opportunity to dedicate myself full-time to my research on the fascinating short story cycles which this dissertation revolves around. I am thankful for having had the unique experience of devoting my days to reading, writing papers and articles, and attending conferences. I owe much gratitude to the ‘Onderzoeksraad KU Leuven’, for allowing me the extra year I needed to complete my research after the initial two-year scholarship had expired. I would like to thank ‘Academische Stichting Leuven’ as well, for letting me present my research at the 2012 IASIL conference in Montreal, Canada by way of a travel grant. I also want to mention the Leuven Centre for Irish Studies, which organizes many interesting academic events in the field of Irish Studies. I thank my colleagues from the ‘Subfaculteit Literatuurwetenschappen’ as well, Lene and Benedicte in particular. Although I did not spend much time in our office during the final v stages of my research, their support was important to me. I especially valued the long talks I had with Lene, both about our work and home lives. I also thank the people who are part of the ‘XXL19 Research Seminar’, from whom I received some valuable feedback on my analysis of the 1890s cycle. In addition, I want to thank Mia Hamels, whom I could always turn to for practical questions, as well as the staff of the IBL service, who provided me with many urgently-needed academic sources over the years. Furthermore, I would like to express my appreciation to Prof. Dr. Marleen Cré, who supervised my first Master’s thesis, on medieval female poetry, and to Prof. Douglas Atkinson of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, under whose supervision I wrote my Master’s thesis on Milton’s Paradise Lost. I am thankful for their guidance during my student days and beyond, as well as for encouraging me to embark upon a PhD. Thanks are also in order to the friends I met during my student years in Brussels, particularly my travelling companion, Sven, with whom I exchanged many conversations of mutual encouragement. The frequent lunches I had with Fabienne were a welcome distraction from the daily routine as well. Furthermore, I want to mention the people – and horses – from ‘Stal Amandus’, where I ride, my fellow tennis players from ‘Landen T.C.’ and ‘T.C. Wimbledon’, and the people from ‘RSC Anderlecht’, where I am a proud volunteer. I thank them for providing me with the diversion I needed during the course of this project. Moreover, I felt greatly supported by their interest in the progress of my work. My thanks also go out to my extended family, including my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. They do exactly what families are supposed to do: being there for you when you need them the most. It is nice to know that I have the Brouckmans Mafia behind me. A very special thank you is of course due to my immediate family, who are also my life companions. I thank my father and doubles partner, Ralph, who always provides me with unconditional moral support, and my mother, Anne. Despite the fact that she initially wanted me to work in a sector completely opposite to academics, she has put considerable effort into the proofreading of this dissertation, for which I am grateful. I also thank my sister and fellow dog trainer, Dana, whom I spend more time with than with anyone else. As the only other academic(-to-be) in the family, she could perhaps empathize best with the challenges that are involved with academic research. My greatest thanks, finally, go out to my soulmate Ally, who sadly passed away two years ago, and to Zooey, the little man of my life, who needs me as much as I need him. It is with great love that I dedicate this dissertation to them. vi Table of Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................ v The Short Story Cycle in Ireland (1890s – present): Introduction ...................................... 1 The Short Story Cycle from a Theoretical Perspective: Criticism and Development ..... 11 Chapter I: Narrating Community Life: Jane Barlow’s Irish Idylls and Edith Somerville and Martin Ross’s The Irish R.M. ......................................................................................... 25 1. Barlow’s Irish Idylls and Somerville & Ross’s The Irish R.M. ....................................... 26 1.1. Barlow and Somerville & Ross: Biographies ........................................................... 26 1.2. Irish Idylls and The Irish R.M. as Early Short Story Cycles ..................................... 28 1.3. Irish Idylls and The Irish R.M. as Narratives of Community .................................... 32 2. The American Tradition: Jewett’s The Country of the Pointed Firs ................................ 46 Chapter II: Bridging Tradition and Modernity: George Moore’s The Untilled Field ..... 51 1. Moore: Biography ............................................................................................................ 52 2. Moore’s The Untilled Field .............................................................................................. 53 2.1. The Untilled Field as a Transitional Short Story Cycle ............................................ 54 2.2. The Untilled Field and Irish Idylls ............................................................................ 58 2.3. The Untilled Field and Dubliners .............................................................................. 66 Chapter III: The (Post-)Modern Dubliner: James Stephens’s Here Are Ladies and Samuel Beckett’s More Pricks Than Kicks versus James Joyce’s Dubliners ..................... 73 1. Stephens’s Here Are Ladies ............................................................................................. 74 1.1. Stephens: Biography ................................................................................................. 74 vii 1.2. Here Are Ladies as a Short Story Cycle including Poetry ........................................ 75 1.3. Here Are Ladies versus Dubliners ............................................................................ 80 2. Beckett’s More Pricks Than Kicks ................................................................................... 85 2.1. Beckett: Biography .................................................................................................... 85 2.2. More Pricks Than Kicks ............................................................................................ 87 2.2.1. More Pricks Than Kicks as a ‘Belacquan’ Short Story Cycle ............................ 88 2.2.2. More Pricks Than Kicks versus Dubliners ......................................................... 93 3. The American Tradition: Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio .................................................. 98 Chapter IV: The Short Story Cycle in Mid-Century Ireland: ‘Loose’ Cycles by O’Flaherty, O’Connor, Ó Faoláin and Lavin and Brennan’s The Springs of Affection: Stories of Dublin .................................................................................................................... 105 1. ‘Loose’ Cycles by O’Flaherty, O’Connor, Ó Faoláin and Lavin ................................... 105 1.1. O’Flaherty’s The Mountain Tavern and Other Stories ........................................... 105 1.2. O’Connor’s Guests of the Nation and Ó Faoláin’s Midsummer Night Madness .... 109 1.3.