"Original and very much needed, given the relevance of this novel in the Irish literary canon."—Marisol Morales-Ladrón, coeditor of Deirdre Madden: New Critical Essays
"This timely new edition . . . equips educators and students to understand, discuss, and address those forms of abuse that flourish under conditions of silence."—Margot Gayle Backus, coeditor of The Child Sex Scandal and Modern Irish Literature: Writing the Unspeakable
Description
Teaching John McGahern’s The Dark provide an indispensable companion to the classic Irish novel. With an introduction aimed at first-time readers and four critical essays, this edition guides readers through the novel’s famously controversial history. While The Dark was initially banned in Ireland for obscenity, scholars now demonstrate that McGahern’s novel of adolescence is not obscene, but revelatory, exposing the corruption underlying authority structures in mid-century Ireland—from the family to the church, to the government’s willingness to ignore national and communal trauma. The Dark is a story of alarming brutality, surprising tenderness, and poetic lyricism; a reflection of Irish society that maintains historical significance as contemporary Ireland continues to build its national identity. An invaluable resource, this edition gives students and scholars a rich source of contextualizing material to address the themes and significance of McGahern’s complex novel.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Seeing in the Dark, Anna Teekell
Essays
1. “The Four-Letter Word”: Censorship and “The Dark, ”Frank Shovlin
2. Documenting The Dark: John McGahern and the Archive, Barry Houlihan
3. A Very Special Violence: John McGahern’s Biopolitical Novel, Enda Duffy
4. Reading Trauma in The Dark, Kathleen Costello-Sullivan
About the Author
Anna Teekell is associate professor of English at Christopher Newport University.
Ellen Scheible is professor of English and director of the honors program at Bridgewater State University.
