Fragmentation and vulnerability in Anne Enright's <i>The green road</i> (2015): Collateral casualties of the Celtic Tiger in Ireland

Authors

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes/2018/1/277781
Keywords: Anne Enright, The Green Road, Ireland, contemporary fiction, Celtic Tiger, mobility, fragmentation, vulnerability, aging

Abstract

This article explores the representation of family and individuals in Anne Enright's novel The Green Road (2015) by engaging with Zygmunt Bauman's sociological category of “liquid modernity” (2000). In The Green Road, Enright uses a recurrent topic, a family gathering, to observe the multiple forms in which particular experiences seem to have suffered a process of fragmentation during the Celtic Tiger period. A comprehensive analysis of the form and plot of the novel exposes the ideological contradictions inherent in the once hegemonic notion of Irish family and brings attention to the different forms of individual vulnerability for which Celtic Tiger Ireland has no answer.

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Author Biography

Maria Amor Barros-del Rio, University of Burgos

María Amor Barros-del Río lectures Language, Culture and Literatures of the English Speaking Countries, and ESL Teaching Strategies at the University of Burgos, Spain. Her research focuses on Gender Studies and Contemporary Literatures in English with a particular interest in Ireland. She is the author of Metáforas de su tierra: Breve historia de las mujeres irlandesas (2004) and has also participated in collective works and national and international journals. Other areas of interest are Critical Pedagogy and Second Language Teaching.

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Published
26-06-2018
How to Cite
Barros-del Rio, M. A. (2018). Fragmentation and vulnerability in Anne Enright’s <i>The green road</i> (2015): Collateral casualties of the Celtic Tiger in Ireland. International Journal of English Studies, 18(1), 35–51. https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes/2018/1/277781
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