Double Visions

In this book, James M. Cahalan examines gender issues in the writings and in the lives of a dozen notable Irish authors and their fictional characters.

Covering literature from the late nineteenth century to the present, he seeks to close the gender gap in Irish literary history by pairing similar works of fiction by both men and women. The author addresses, for instance, how women writers’ characterizations of men compare with men’s representations of women. Sensitive to other distinctions such as class and region, Cahalan reveals differences in perceptions of shared subjects—such as politic and autobiography—to illuminate a series of “double visions.”

Contents include readings of the Aran Islands narratives of Emily Lawle s and Liam O’Flaherty; the comic fictions and serious careers of Somerville and Ross and James Joyce; the coming-of-age novels of Edna O’Brien and John McGahern and Brian Moore; and “Troubles” novels by four authors—Jennifer Johnston and Bernard MacLaver ty, and Julia O’Faolain and William Trevor. The book’s introduction is a far-ranging critique of feminist criticism and gender issues in Irish cultural history, while the conclusion touches on several other recent Irish novels and films.