Since the publication of her debut novel The Country Girls in 1960, Edna O'Brien has experimented with an impressive range of forms and genres. Her most recent trilogy, completed in 1999 with the publication of Wild Decembers, focuses on issues surrounding contemporary Ireland such as terrorism, decolonisation and abortion law. Concentrating mainly on the novels from 1960 to the present day Amanda Greenwood contests critical perceptions of O'Brien as a narrow chronicler of women's inner lives, arguing that O'Brien's writings are not only radical but deeply revealing of the position of women under patriarchy in Ireland and beyond; the later texts suggest the need for revisions of the social and symbolic orders. Drawing on 'French' feminism, gender issues, Irish studies and ecocriticism, Greenwood explores O'Brien's representations and deconstruction of 'femininity', 'masculinity' and 'Irishness'.

About the Author
Dr Amanda Greenwood has recently left the English Literature department at the University of Hull to take up a full-time teaching post at the Andrew Marvell School, Hull. Before that she taught at Queen's University, Belfast, University of Huddersfield and Trinity and All Saint's College, Leeds.


Book Information
ISBN 9780746309674
Author Amanda Greenwood
Format Paperback
Page Count 128
Imprint Liverpool University Press
Publisher Liverpool University Press