Representation of trauma in William Trevor’s Big house trilogy

Автор: Zinnatullina Z.R.

Журнал: Новый филологический вестник @slovorggu

Рубрика: Зарубежные литературы

Статья в выпуске: 2 (69), 2024 года.

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William Trevor is an Anglo-Irish writer, who throws light upon the “Irish question” in terms of the so-called Anglo-Irish Ascendency class in his novels. Anglo-Irish Ascendency class is English families who were resettled on the island in the 17th century. They retained their religion and traditions, and until the beginning of the 20th century they continued to live separately from the Irish inhabitants of the Ireland. This issue is most clearly presented in William Trevor’s Big House Trilogy. The trilogy includes following novels: Fools of Fortune (1983), The Silence in the Garden (1988), The Story of Lucy Gault (2002). All three works belong to Big House novel genre and are dedicated to the traumatic history of Anglo-Irish relations. The novels take place on a secluded estate where English families live surrounded by the Catholic middle class. The historical background is the First World War. It is not a source of trauma, but introduces a motive of violence associated with local confrontation. a catastrophic event, which happened in each novel, starts further development of the plot and becomes a source of trauma for the characters. The characters seem to be stuck in the moment of the catastrophe, constantly experiencing it in their minds, abandoning the future and dooming themselves to loneliness. “Stuckness” in the trilogy is presented primarily through the enclosed space of the estates, as well as through the motif of repetition. Only Lucy Gault from the last novel manages to overcome the trauma by leaving her home, giving up revenge and forgiving the culprit of her loneliness.

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Anglo-irish literature, ireland, national identity, trauma, william trevor

Короткий адрес: https://sciup.org/149146229

IDR: 149146229   |   DOI: 10.54770/20729316-2024-2-284

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