Table of Contents

Introduction
Part One: Theories And Histories
1. Theories: The birth of the nation; Cultural nationalism; Novel and nation
2. Forms: The author; The text; The reader
3. Themes: Madness and dreams; Family matters; The city and country
Part Two: Contemporary Irish Fiction
4. Roddy Doyle and the New Irish Fiction: Roddy Doyle, Dermot Bolger, Patrick McCabe, Kathleen Ferguson, Mary Morrissey, Lia Mills
5. The Novel and the North: Deirdre Madden, Eoin McNamee, Colin Bateman, Glenn Pattterson,Robert MacLiam Wilson, Mary Beckett, Eugene McCabe, Kate O'Riordan
6. Borderlands: James Ryan, Joseph O Connor, Desmond Hogan, Emma Donoghue, Tom Lennon, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, Richard Kearney, John McGahern
Interview with Roddy Doyle
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Gerry Smyth is a lecturer in cultural history at Liverpool John Moores University, teaching colonialism, post-colonialism and contemporary Irish fiction. He has published on Joyce, Arnold, Irish traditional music, and contemporary Irish cultural criticism.

Reviews

'An enormously stimulating book' -- Irish Democrat
'A marvellous resource for anyone teaching Irish Studies. .Imbued with the spirit of Joyce, Smyth's detailed investigations of the dominant themes of the new Irish fiction are fruitful and provocative' -- Textual Practice