This presentation seeks to delve into the portrayal of Ireland’s spiritual heartlands in the novels written and published by Neil Jordan since 2004, after a hiatus of 10 years. Jordan is undoubtedly more renowned for his filmography, with notable works such as The Crying Game and Michael Collins, but he has also been engaged in narrative writing for almost five decades. His first published work was a collection of short stories titled Night in Tunisia and Other Stories, which appeared in 1976. Despite this, his literary career has been overshadowed by his cinematic endeavours, both among the general public and academics, as the majority of scholarship on Neil Jordan concentrates on his films. Nevertheless, a common thread emerges in the limited existing criticism on Jordan’s fiction: the author’s intertwined obsessions with Ireland’s history and landscape. Jordan himself once remarked that his first novel, The Past, published in 1980, was born out of his fascination with time and the Irish landscape. And from The Past onwards, Jordan’s fiction has been filled with what Marie Mianowski terms “liminal landscapes by essence,” such as coastal areas, wetlands, river estuaries, or flooded territories whose boundaries are obscured by mists, water vapours, or torrential rains. In Jordan’s fiction, Irish geographies do more than merely provide a backdrop for the characters’ actions, nor is the reference to specific places and toponyms merely a means to produce an “effet de réel” – or reality effect – that lends the narrative verisimilitude. The “liminal landscapes by essence” in Jordan’s novels serve to revisit Irish history, deconstruct authoritative narratives, and help envision spaces of liberation that offer alternatives to the status quo. Indeed, Jordan’s landscapes are multilayered palimpsests of stories – the stories, both personal and collective, associated with them, ranging from legends of the Celtic tradition to more recent political-nationalist myths.
Re-reading Irish Spiritual Heartlands in Neil Jordan’s Fiction of the XXI Century / E. Ogliari. ((Intervento presentato al 1. convegno Re-Reading British and Irish Landscapes in the 21st Century: Nature, Networks, Identities tenutosi a Mannheim nel 2024.
Re-reading Irish Spiritual Heartlands in Neil Jordan’s Fiction of the XXI Century
E. Ogliari
2024
Abstract
This presentation seeks to delve into the portrayal of Ireland’s spiritual heartlands in the novels written and published by Neil Jordan since 2004, after a hiatus of 10 years. Jordan is undoubtedly more renowned for his filmography, with notable works such as The Crying Game and Michael Collins, but he has also been engaged in narrative writing for almost five decades. His first published work was a collection of short stories titled Night in Tunisia and Other Stories, which appeared in 1976. Despite this, his literary career has been overshadowed by his cinematic endeavours, both among the general public and academics, as the majority of scholarship on Neil Jordan concentrates on his films. Nevertheless, a common thread emerges in the limited existing criticism on Jordan’s fiction: the author’s intertwined obsessions with Ireland’s history and landscape. Jordan himself once remarked that his first novel, The Past, published in 1980, was born out of his fascination with time and the Irish landscape. And from The Past onwards, Jordan’s fiction has been filled with what Marie Mianowski terms “liminal landscapes by essence,” such as coastal areas, wetlands, river estuaries, or flooded territories whose boundaries are obscured by mists, water vapours, or torrential rains. In Jordan’s fiction, Irish geographies do more than merely provide a backdrop for the characters’ actions, nor is the reference to specific places and toponyms merely a means to produce an “effet de réel” – or reality effect – that lends the narrative verisimilitude. The “liminal landscapes by essence” in Jordan’s novels serve to revisit Irish history, deconstruct authoritative narratives, and help envision spaces of liberation that offer alternatives to the status quo. Indeed, Jordan’s landscapes are multilayered palimpsests of stories – the stories, both personal and collective, associated with them, ranging from legends of the Celtic tradition to more recent political-nationalist myths.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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