Violence, Politics and Textual Interventions in Northern Ireland

Drawing on the literary-anthropological work of Rene Girard and the psychoanalytical work of Jacques Lacan, Mahon's analysis of key Troubles texts seeks to move away from the all-too-common belief that the Troubles were the result of the repeated clashes of atavistic and instinctual tribal nationalisms. Using the work of both theorists, Mahon re-examines and re-appraises the complex deployment of recurrent motifs--such as language, violence, ritual, psycho-sexual dynamics, history, the law--in key Troubles texts. He then goes on to explore how the interaction between these texts and theorists makes it possible to theorize a new, flexible framework for reading and engaging with the dynamic interplay of violence, sexuality, politics and textuality that opens up alternate political and sexual possibilities.

ISBN 0230576435   Pages 272 ISBN13 9780230576438 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Palgrave Macmillan   Weight (grammes) 446 Imprint Palgrave Macmillan   Published in Basingstoke Format Hardback   Height (mm) 223 Publication date 26 Feb 2010   Width (mm) 143 DEWEY 820.9358   Spine width (mm) 21 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Further/Higher education, Professional / Scholarly

1		Blood, shit and tears : the textual reinscription of sacrifice, ritual and victimhood in Bernard MacLaverty's Cal		18
2		The law's terrifying double : "legal panic" in Glenn Patterson's That which was		47
3		Family matters : Jim Sheridan's In the name of the father and Terry George's Some mother's son		87
4		States of desire in Patrick McCabe's Breakfast on Pluto		126
5		"Something like God" : shit, orifices, and bodily signifiers in Louise Dean's This human season		177
Conclusion		Contaminated Christs		212
		Notes		228
		Index		255

'Peter Mahon's book is both timely and original, with a good sense of the vital significance of literature in Irish history. It is a trenchant scholarly intervention but will also interest a wide range of readers in both Ireland and Britain. I expect the book to become a model of the analysis of the cultural effects of political violence.' - Luke Thurston, Department of English& Creative Writing, Aberystwyth University, UK

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