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Medbh Mcguckian
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2014
Summary
This book offers a wide-ranging analysis of the entire corpus of Medbh McGuckian’s published work. Its objective is to provide both a readable synthesis of existing criticism, in a fashion which will be generally useful to academics and students, and also to offer an original contribution to the field of contemporary Irish literary studies on the basis of new research. The book investigatesa variety of previously neglected themes, in particular McGuckian’s exploration of ideas of creativity and performativity in her poetry.
Over the past two decades McGuckian has been recognized by both her fellow poets and by literary critics as one of the most original, daring and important poetic voices in contemporary Ireland. Since 1982 she has published fifteen volumes of poetry, extraordinary not merely for its sustained quality and linguistic and technical virtuosity, but also for its constant evolution and reinvention. This book provides an original perspective on her work both thematically and methodologically. From a thematic perspective, the process of artistic creation is a key preoccupation of McGuckian’s poetry which recurs in every volume of her oeuvre but has previously escaped critical attention. By adapting and refining theories of singularity and creativity, the book allows for a coherent analysis of this central aspect of McGuckian’s work. Methodologically it differs from previous studies in the scope of its approach. Uniquely, it pursues its investigation across the entire breadth of the poet’s published output and emphasizes the thematic unity of individual volumes in the light of the poet’s constant change and development. Throughout the book, the reading of McGuckian’s work concentrates on poems in their entirety, an approach which has not figured to any notable degree in the existing secondary literature on the poet, not least because of the perceived difficulty of her writing. A critical investigation, however, which respects both the integrity of the individual poems and the internal coherence of her various volumes allows for a far deeper understanding both of the poet’s thematic preoccupations and of the evolution of her distinctive poetic voice.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2014
ISBN-Print
978-1-61148-563-9
ISBN-Online
978-1-61148-564-6
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
226
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Acknowledgments No access
Abbreviations No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 14
Chapter 1. Literary Performance in Medbh McGuckian’s Early Volumes: The Flower Master, Venus and the Rain, On Ballycastle Beach, and Marconi’s Cottage No access Pages 15 - 64
Chapter 2. The Politicized Aesthetic in Captain Lavender, Shelmalier, and Drawing Ballerinas No access Pages 65 - 96
Chapter 3. Death and Spirituality in The Face of the Earth, Had I a Thousand Lives, and The Book of the Angel No access Pages 97 - 124
Chapter 4. Inward Journeys: The Currach Requires No Harbours, My Love Has Fared Inland, and The High Caul Cap No access Pages 125 - 170
Chapter 5. Thematic Readings of Medbh McGuckian’s Work No access Pages 171 - 190
