Beyond the Pale: The Social Landscape in Patrick McCabe’s Breakfast on Pluto, Paul McVeigh’s The Good Son, and Anna Burns’ Milkman in relation to the Troubles in Northern Ireland

• Název práce v češtině: Za hranicí přijatelnosti: Reprezentace severoirské společnosti na pozadí nepokojů v románech Breakfast on Pluto Patricka McCaba, The Good Son Paula McVeigha a Milkman Anny Burnsové
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Beyond the Pale: The Social Landscape in Patrick McCabe’s Breakfast on Pluto, Paul McVeigh’s The Good Son, and Anna Burns’ Milkman in relation to the Troubles in Northern Ireland
• Klíčová slova: SeverníIrsko|Nepokoje|Společnost|Burns|McCabe|McVeigh|Komunita
• Klíčová slova anglicky: NorthernIreland|Troubles|SocialLandscape|Burns|McCabe|McVeigh|Community|Beyond-the-Pale
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2021/2022
• Typ práce: bakalářská práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Ústav anglofonních literatur a kultur (21-UALK)
• Vedoucí / školitel: Mgr. Radvan Markus, Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno a potvrzeno stud. odd.
• Datum přihlášení: 10.12.2021
• Datum zadání: 15.12.2021
• Schválení administrátorem: zatím neschvalováno
• Datum potvrzení stud. oddělením: 16.12.2021
• Odevzdaná/finalizovaná: ne
• Oponenti: doc. Clare Wallace, M.A., Ph.D.

Zásady pro vypracování

The outbreak of Northern Ireland’s Troubles stirred up unrest in both parts of the divided country and unleashed a period of violence, political terror, and paranoia. In hindsight, the Troubles can be viewed as a ferocious conflict that would be etched on the Irish collective memory for years to come; its reflection can be found in modern Irish fiction, interwoven with memories and personal experiences. In this thesis, I will analyse three Troubles novels, Anna Burns’ Milkman (2018), Patrick McCabe’s Breakfast on Pluto (1998), and Paul McVeigh’s The Good Son (2015) which are set in the 1970s and 1980s. These novels are centred around young protagonists, Patrick “Pussy” Braden, middle sister, and Mickey Donnelly who are preoccupied rather with their own personal concerns than with the conflict itself. Their “otherness” however attracts unwanted attention and is considered bad or absurd in contrast to the ideology of their community. The aim of this thesis is to address and compare how they defy the conventions the community upholds, and at the same time, to illustrate how their resistance drives them into the world of unlimited imagination which can however contribute to their estrangement. It will be suggested that the Northern Irish society presented in the novels inflicts more damage on such individuals than the Troubles themselves. On the subject of the reflection of social reality, the thesis will provide insight into the social patterns of these communities, which will be manifested by particular interactions and encounters.
The introduction will offer a brief historical insight into the socio-political realm during the period of the Troubles with the emphasis on youth and adolescence. The main text will be divided into three chapters, with one chapter devoted to each novel. They will be situated into the literary and historical context of the Troubles and further analysed from two angles. The first part of each chapter will explore how the protagonists are threatened by various forms of violence and how the conflict affects the functionality of the family and community background. The focus will also be placed on restricted language, enclosed space, and prescribed gender roles. The second part of each chapter will analyse what the main protagonists, consciously or unconsciously, project into the outside world through their narration, either in the form of inner storytelling or through interaction with other characters in the novels. The emphasis will be placed on the use of humour, which is central to all three characters, and the style of narration in order to underline the specificity of each of the authors. The aim of the thesis is to examine Northern Irish social landscapein the selected novels to capture the particular features and compare them with social reality in the times of the Troubles. The output will be a comparative contextual analysis which will be achieved through close reading of the novels as well as the variety of secondary historical sources, and biographies.

Seznam odborné literatury

Primary Sources
Burns, Anna. Milkman. London: Faber and Faber, 2018.
McCabe, Patrick. Breakfast on Pluto. London: Picador, 1998.
McVeigh, Paul. The Good Son. Cromer: Salt Publishing, 2015.

Secondary Sources
Altuna-García de Salazar, Asier. Ireland and Dysfunction: Critical Explorations in Literature and Film. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017.
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Cairns, Ed. Caught in the Crossfire: Children and the Northern Ireland conflict. Belfast: Appletree Press, 1987.
Coulter, Colin, Contemporary Northern Irish Society: An Introduction. London: Pluto Press, 1999.
Darling, Orlaith. ““Systemic, Transhistoric, Institutionalized, and Legitimized Antipathy”: Epistemic and Sexual Violence in A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing and Milkman.” Contemporary Women's Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
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Ellmann, Maud, Siân White, and Vicki Mahaffey, eds. The Edinburgh Companion to Irish Modernism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021.
Falci, Eric, and Paige Reynolds, eds. Irish Literature in Transition: 1980-2020. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Keating, Jennifer. Patrick McCabe’s Ireland: The Butcher Boy, Breakfast on Pluto and Winterwood. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
McKittrick, David, Kelters, Seamus, Feeney, Brian, and Thornton, Chris. Lost Lives: The stories of the men, women and children who died as a result of the Northern Ireland troubles. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 1999.
McVeigh Paul, and Sarah Gilmartin. “Where being Different can be Sometimes Deadly: New Fiction the Good Son.” The Irish Times. Irish Times: Dublin, 2015.
Melaugh, Martin, director of CAIN. CAIN, Conflict Archive on the Internet Website. URL Ulster University, 1996–2021.
Muldoon, Orla. “Children of the Troubles: The Impact of Political Violence in Northern Ireland.” Journal of Social Issues. Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 2004.
O'Leary, Brendan, and McGarry, John. The Politics of Antagonism: Understanding Northern Ireland. London: Bloomsbury, 2016.
Sales, Rosemary. Women Divided: Gender, Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland. London: Routledge, 1997.
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Walker, Brian Mercer. A Political History of the Two Irelands: From Partition to Peace. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.