Time in the Contemporary Irish Novel : Past and Present in Experimental Narratives

An exploration of time through such concepts as history, memory and lived present as they are presented within experimental contemporary Irish fiction.

An exploration of contemporary Irish novels’ fascination with time through concepts such as history, memory, and the lived present, this book examines the intertwined conceptualizations of past and present in narrative process. Engaging theorists such as Martin Heidegger, Paul Ricoeur, Gérard Genette, Linda Hutcheon, and Mark Currie, and utilising concepts from philosophy, narrative theory, biography, self-writing, narrative present tense and everydayness, it demonstrates how Irish experimental novelist’s use of fictional time is as expressive of existence as a sense of clock time and natural time. Illuminating how these metafictional narratives attest to contemporary authors’ continuous efforts to engage with time while reacting to the limitations of language, Lianghui Li incorporates established and emerging authors who practice narrative experimentation, including Laurence Sterne, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Flann O’Brien, Kevin Barry, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, John Banville, Anne Enright, Mike McCormack and Sara Baume.