Abstract
This dissertation analyzes representations of walking in contemporary Northern Irish narratives to illustrate how histories of the Troubles persist as material landscapes that demand constant renegotiation. Traversing both Northern Ireland’s contested spaces and the memories of conflict embedded within this landscape’s material structures, the figure of the walker emerges in contemporary Northern Irish fiction and poetry as a potent narrative strategy for understanding how the legacy of the past must be navigated, time and again, in the present. Northern Irish writers Anna Burns, Ciaran Carson, and Seamus Heaney use narratives centered around walking to complicate engagements with the past, exploring the tension between recalling past events and grappling with the ways in which the past, especially violent history, resists being recalled. In the process, they also point to how navigating such complex forms of memory is central to defining the self and community within the complex historical context of the Northern Irish Troubles.
Committee Chair
Guinn Batten
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Author's Department
English and American Literature
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
8-4-2023
Language
English (en)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7936/52ww-x007
Recommended Citation
Clark, Ian David, "“I am this Map, a History”: Walking, Memory, and Writing the Troubles in Contemporary Northern Irish Literature" (2023). Arts & Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 3116.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.7936/52ww-x007