The Judas kiss
Treason and betrayal in six modern Irish novels
By Gerry Smyth
Book Information
- Format: eBook
- ISBN: 978-0-7190-9824-6
- Published Date: May 2015
Description
This book argues that modern Irish history encompasses a deep-seated fear of betrayal, and that this fear has been especially prevalent since the revolutionary period at the outset of the twentieth century. The author goes on to argue that the novel is the literary form most apt for the exploration of betrayal in its social, political and psychological dimensions. The significance of this thesis comes into focus in terms of a number of recent developments - most notably, the economic downturn (and the political and civic betrayals implicated therein) and revelations of the Catholic Church's failure in its pastoral mission. As many observers note, such developments have brought the language of betrayal to the forefront of contemporary Irish life. This book offers a powerful analysis of modern Irish history as regarded from the perspective of some its most incisive minds, including James Joyce, Liam O'Flaherty, Elizabeth Bowen, Francis Stuart, Eugene McCabe and Anne Enright.
Reviews
'[.] the greatest compliment that one can pay a book: that it opens the way to further thinking. I certainly hope that this book initiates the kind of wide-scale reconsideration of the role of betrayal in Irish culture (and beyond), the potential richness of which Smyth proves in Judas Kiss.'
James Alexander Fraser, Modernism/modernity, Volume 23, Number 1, January 2016
'[.] a thought provoking and astute work of criticism which uncovers a sharp anxiety about loyalty that troubles the roots of Irishness in fiction and in fact.'
Edna Duffy, The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Vol. 41
Contents
Introduction: Betrayal and the Irish Novel
Part I
1. A short history of betrayal
2. Déirdre and the Sons of Usnach: a case study in Irish betrayal
Part II
3. 'Trust not appearances' - James Joyce's Ulysses (1922)
4. the landscape of betrayal - Liam O'Flaherty's The Informer (1925)
5. a spy in the house of love- Elizabeth Bowen's The Heat of the Day (1949)
6. Jesus or Judas? - Francis Stuart's Black List, Section H (1971)
7. 'Cangled both to treachery' - Eugene McCabe's Death and Nightingales (1993)
8. 'A family - a whole fucking country - drowning in shame' - Anne Enright's The Gathering (2007)
Index
Author
Gerry Smyth is a Reader in Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University