Society and Solitude in Mary Lavin’s Short Stories

• Thesis title in Czech: Společnost a osamění v povídkách Mary Lavinové
• Thesis title in English: Society and Solitude in Mary Lavin’s Short Stories
• Key words: samota|společnost|konvence|prostor|mlčení|ženy|Irsko
• English key words: solitude|society|conventions|space|silence|women|Ireland
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2020/2021
• Thesis type: Bachelor's thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Supervisor: Mgr. Daniela Theinová, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 17.11.2020
• Date of assignment: 18.11.2020
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 01.12.2020
• Date and time of defence: 24.06.2021 00:00
• Date of electronic submission: 31.05.2021
• Date of proceeded defence: 24.06.2021
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: doc. Clare Wallace, M.A., Ph.D.

Guidelines

In my thesis I would like to discuss the concepts of solitude in Mary Lavin’s short stories, within the scope of female characters in particular. Even though listed as an Irish writer, Mary Lavin was considered apolitical in her works, which led to her problematic “exclusion” from the Irish literary tradition. Her works also were not always considered feminist in a contemporary sense and were placed in a feminist framework with mixed success according to Elke D’hoker.[1]My aim is to prove that despite her work not expressing any obvious feminist agenda, it still exposes the constricting conventions of Irish middle-class society through covert social and political commentary. In her portrayals of various, often solitary female characters, Lavin criticises the constraints imposed onto women by the society, without depicting them as necessarily hostile or in opposition towards it. The notion of solitariness itself, more customarily associated with male characters, also throws a different light onto women’s writing. The aesthetic value of this notion in Lavin’s work allows her characters to expose many issues prevalent in the Irish society of the time.
Despite these women characters not being openly opposed to the conventions, they are still portrayed by Lavin as three-dimensional human beings maintaining their independence and freedom of choice as much as their life circumstances allow. Although Lavin may not have written about women who would evidently oppose patriarchy, her works still express social and political criticism of Irish middle-class, and the issues her characters face are the ones that feminists addressed. I will primarily focus on three of Lavin’s short stories, “Sarah,” “The Nun’s Mother” and “In the Middle of the Fields,” to explore the moments of solitude that manifest themselves in various forms: singleness viewed as a negative feature in women; isolation in terms of the female body and the unspeakability of sexuality; and the paradox of loneliness and silence in terms of space that is associated with patronising male attitude. These examples are always closely connected with the foregrounding of social conventions imposed onto women, as well as the philosophical importance of loneliness in terms of female characters. My primary sources include: “Beyond the Stereotypes: Mary Lavin’s Irish Women” by Elke D’hoker published in Irish Studies Review 16, no. 4 (2008); Mary Lavin: A Quiet rebel by A.A. Kelly; Solitude: A Philosophical Encounter by Philip Koch; and The Production of Space by Henri Lefebvre.


[1]Elke D’hoker, “Beyond the Stereotypes: Mary Lavin’s Irish Women,” Irish Sudies Review 16, no.4 (2008): 416,https://doi.org/10.1080/09670880802481270.

References

D’hoker, Elke. “Beyond the Stereotypes: Mary Lavin’s Irish Women.” Irish Studies Review 16, no. 4 (2008): 415–430.https://doi.org/10.1080/09670880802481270.
D’hoker, Elke. “Family and Community in Mary Lavin’s Grimes Stories.” In Mary Lavin. Edited by Elke D’hoker. 152–168. Sallins: Irish Academic Press, 2013.
Ingman, Heather. “Masculinities in Mary Lavin’s Short Stories.” In Mary Lavin. Edited by Elke D’hoker. 30-48. Sallins: Irish Academic Press, 2013.
Kelly, A.A. Mary Lavin: Quiet Rebel. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1980.
Koch, Philip. Solitude: A Philosophical Encounter. Chicago and La Salle: Open Court Publishing Company, 1994.
Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. Oxford and Cambridge: T.J. Press, 1991.
O’Brien, Patricia. The Woman Alone. New York: Times Books, 1974.
O’Connor, Frank. The Lonely Voice: A Study of the Short Story. New York: Melville House Publishing, 1963. Kindle.
O’Connor, Maureen. “‘I’m meat for no Butcher!’: The Female and the Species in Irish Women’s Writing.” In Irish Women Writers: New Critical Perspectives. Edited by Elke D’hoker, Raphaël Ingelbien and Hedwig Schwall. 133–150. Bern: International Academic Publishers, 2011.
Coughlan, Patricia and Tina O’Toole, eds. Irish Literature: Feminist Perspectives. Dublin:
Craysfort Press, 2008.