London Irish Fictions
Narrative, Diaspora and Identity
Distributed for Liverpool University Press
An in-depth study of the literature of the Irish in London, this volume examines the specific role that the metropolis plays in literary portrayals of Irish migrant experience. By examining over thirty Irish novels, short stories, and autobiographies set in London since World War II, London Irish Fictions encourages readers to travel through the complex psychological landscapes of belonging and cultural allegiance found in these intensely personal perspectives on the Irish experience of migration. Tony Murray sheds new light on how migrant identities are negotiated, mediated, and represented through literature.
“A rich, sympathetic and nuanced exploration of that strange blend of exile and escape, of suffering and play-acting, which characterises the Irish migrant experience in London. London Irish Fictions acutely assesses the effect of such migration on those who remained in Ireland and on British culture. Tony Murray deftly includes many second-generation narratives in what is a valuable, unprecedented, and necessary book. Its author has the gift of explanation without simplification.”
1. Introduction
2. The Irish in London
Part I: The Mail-Boat Generation
Introduction
3. Navvy Narratives
4. Escape and its Discontents
5. Ersatz Exiles
6. Departures and Returns
Part II: The Ryanair Generation
Introduction
7. Gendered Entanglements
8. Ex-Pat Pastiche
9. Transit and Transgression
Part III: The Second Generation
Introduction
10. Irish Cockney Rebels
11. Elastic Paddies
12: Conclusion
Author Biographies
Bibliography
Index
Literature and Literary Criticism: British and Irish Literature
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