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| author |
Kate Zemetis Zimmerbaum
| | title |
In Extremis: An Aesthetics of Excess in Fiction of the Troubles in Northern Ireland
| | abstract |
This dissertation examines a shared aesthetics of excess, and the reasons for its presence, in the works of five writers whose novels about the Troubles in Northern Ireland have been published since 1994: Seamus Deane (Reading in the Dark); Ann Burns (No Bones, Little Constructions, and Milkman); David Keenan (For the Good Times); Eoin McNamee (Resurrection Man and The Ultras); and Michael Hughes (Country). The novels under study express and reflect psychological trauma, present small-slice, phenomenological history to challenge and augment official records, confront the violent realities of war, and illustrate sociological aspects of identity tied to gender, class, politics, religion, and place. In this analysis of how and why these authors rely on excess—topical, thematic, and stylistic—to represent the lived experience of the Troubles, I bring together several theoretical threads. First, I consider the historic context of the works and the extreme violence, sectarianism, and ethno-nationalism that characterized the time period. Then, I build on Caruth's theory of trauma and literature, with its emphasis on gaps, redactions, and witness unreliability, as well as newer models for the representation of trauma which note corporeal and social dimensions of excessive traumatic affect in an age of mediatized terroristic experiences. Next, I examine exaggeration in these works in light of Stephen Ritter's theory on the tropological functions of hyperbole that allow us to discover new truths and Christopher Johnson's heuristic continuum of expressibility and contention that linguistic extremes (exaggeration, understatement, and silences) are used when the writer must express something extraordinary or incredible, because straightforward language is insufficient. Finally, I examine the poetics of excess found in these novels, i.e., patterns of excess in the writing itself, particularly in narrative structures, syntax, diction, and the use of exaggerated forms of humor such as parody and absurdity. They encompass a range of styles, employing linguistic and syntactical techniques rooted in medieval Irish poetry and/or inherently hyperbolic genres such as the Gothic and noir. Overall, this project seeks to explain how excessive elements of style and content work together to create fiction that captures the complexity of the Troubles.
| | school |
The Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Drew University
| | degree |
D.Litt.
(2024)
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| advisor |
Laura Winters
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| committee |
Christine Kinealy
Liana Piehler
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| full text | KZimmerbaum.pdf - requires Drew uLogin |
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