Filozofická Fakulta Ústav Anglofonních Literatur A
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UNIVERZITA KARLOVA – FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA ÚSTAV ANGLOFONNÍCH LITERATUR A KULTUR Shame and Belonging in the Fiction of Maeve Brennan DIPLOMOVÁ PRÁCE Vedoucí diplomové práce (supervisor): doc. Clare Wallace, PhD. M.A. Zpracovala (author): Klára Hutková, MA (Hons) Studijní obor (subject): Anglofonní literatury a kultury Praha, 7. května 2021 Declaration Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto diplomovou práci vypracovala samostatně, že jsem řádně citovala všechny použité prameny a literaturu a že práce nebyla využita v rámci jiného vysokoškolského studia či k získání jiného či stejného titulu. I declare that the following MA thesis is my own work for which I used only the sources and literature mentioned, and that this thesis has not been used in the course of other university studies or in order to acquire the same or another type of diploma. V Praze dne 7. května 2021 Klára Hutková 2 Permission Souhlasím se zapůjčením diplomové práce ke studijním účelům. I have no objections to the MA thesis being borrowed and used to study purposes. 3 Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisor, Doc. Clare Wallace, for her supervision and valuable suggestions. I am grateful to the Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University for being a supportive and motivating environment. Spending my final year at Trinity College Dublin also further inspired me in my research. Finally, I want to thank my partner and family for their patience and support. 4 List of Abbreviations Works by Maeve Brennan LWL The Long-Winded Lady: Notes from the New Yorker. Dublin: The Stinging Fly, 2017. RG The Rose Garden. Washington, DC: Counterpoint Press, 2000. SA The Springs of Affection: Stories of Dublin. London: Flamingo, 2000. V The Visitor. Dublin: New Island, 2019. 5 Table of Contents Declaration ............................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Permission ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................................. 5 Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 About the author and the topic ......................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Shame: The self, others, and the link between ................................................................................................................. 9 1.3 Rethinking shame (and guilt)......................................................................................................................................... 11 1.4 “Underground” shame ................................................................................................................................................... 12 1.4 Shame in literature ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 1.5 Brennan’s double identity I: From Ireland to America .................................................................................................. 17 1.6 Brennan’s double identity II: A woman writer .............................................................................................................. 23 1.7 Thesis layout.................................................................................................................................................................. 28 2. Laughing off shame ............................................................................................................................................................ 30 2.1 Notes from The New Yorker .......................................................................................................................................... 30 2.2 Inventing female flânerie ............................................................................................................................................... 33 2.3 The narrator who appears .............................................................................................................................................. 39 2.4 Shifting perspectives: Common shame and guilt ........................................................................................................... 47 2.5 The view from the window ............................................................................................................................................ 51 2.6 Belonging by shaming: In-groups and out-groups ......................................................................................................... 59 3. Retracing steps.................................................................................................................................................................... 66 3.1 (Not) returning home: The Visitor ................................................................................................................................. 66 3.2 Apples of shame ............................................................................................................................................................ 72 3.3 Failed couples: The Derdons and the Bagots ................................................................................................................. 75 3.4 The oppressiveness of home .......................................................................................................................................... 81 3.5 The falls of affection ..................................................................................................................................................... 85 4. Deep-rooted shame ............................................................................................................................................................. 98 4.1 Carmine, crimson, blush, rose, scarlet, wine, purple, pink, and blood ........................................................................... 98 4.2 Generations of shame .................................................................................................................................................. 101 4.3 Women inhabiting patriarchy ...................................................................................................................................... 105 4.4 Ireland and motherhood ............................................................................................................................................... 110 4.5 Old shame .................................................................................................................................................................... 115 4.6 Belonging .................................................................................................................................................................... 120 5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................................... 127 Works Cited ....................................................................................................................................................................... 132 Thesis Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................. 136 Abstrakt práce.................................................................................................................................................................... 138 Key Words / Klíčová slova ................................................................................................................................................ 140 6 1. Introduction 1.1 About the author and the topic Maeve Brennan was born in Dublin in 1917, where she grew up, and spent her adult life in New York, writing for The New Yorker. She contributed to the “Talk of the Town” section of the magazine under the pseudonym “the long-winded lady”. A collection of these short texts was published in 1969 under the title The Long-Winded Lady: Notes from the New Yorker, identifying Maeve Brennan as their author. This part of her work serves as a unique probe into life in New York around the 1960s as a young, independent woman would have experienced it. Brennan also wrote short stories, a few of which take place at an exclusive residential area called Herbert’s Retreat, where women compete for dominance. It seems that all the families employ Irish maids, whose contempt for the American homeowners shapes the narratives. Brennan, the daughter of the Irish ambassador to