This paper aims to present the main contours of Burns’s literary output which, interestingly enough, grows into a personal understanding of the collective mindset of (post)-Troubles Northern Ireland. It is legitimate, I argue, to construe her fiction (No Bones, 2001; Little Constructions, 2007; Milkman, 2018) as a body of work shedding light on certain underlying mechanisms of (post-)sectarian violence. Notwithstanding the lapse of time between 1998 and 2020, the Troubles’ toxic legacy has indeed woven an unbroken thread in the social fabric of the region. My reading of the novelist’s selected works intends to show how the local public have been fed by (or have fed themselves upon) an unjustified—maybe even false—sense of security. Burns, in that regard, has positioned herself amongst the aggregate of writers who feel anxious rather than placated, hence their persistence in returning to the roots of Northern Irish societal divisions. Burns’s writing, in the above context, though immersed in the world of the Troubles, paradoxically communicates “an idiosyncratic spatiotemporality” (Maureen Ruprecht Fadem’s phrase), namely an experience beyond the self-imposing, historical time limits. As such, it gains the ability to provide insightful commentaries on conflict-prone relations, the patterns of which can be repeatedly observed in Northern Ireland’s socio-political milieu. Overall, the main idea here is to discuss and present the narrative realm proposed by Burns as (in)determinate, liminal in terms of time and space, positioning readers between “then” and “now” of the region.
This work touches upon Martin Amis's diagnosis of the Western world and its cultural foundations which seem to have been threatened, as maintained by the author, by a specific form of "de-Enlightenment" (2008). Amis, a repository of Western intellectual ethos, steps to the fore to defend reason. In view of the world's unrests, he fosters a thorough investigation of public beliefs, either of a religious or political nature, highlighting how deeply individual freedom has been censored and imperiled by various fundamentalisms. In his highly controversial, often blasphemous, collection of essays and short stories titled The second plane Amis renounces in an uncompromising way religious militancy, intellectual insularity, and political dogmatism. Politically incorrect and willfully offensive, the novelist appears unsparing in his criticism of Islamic integrity and right-wing 'theological' intransigence. My intention, thus, is to discuss Amis's overall standpoint referring both to the short story "The last days of Muhammad Atta" and a number of his articles written between 2002-2007. This paper concerns Martin Amis's diagnosis of the Western world and its intellectual foundations, which appear to have been imperiled, as maintained by the author, by a specific form of "de-Enlightenment". Accordingly, many a writer of fiction has felt compelled to "snap out of solipsistic daydreams" (Amis 2008: 13). Amis, as one of them, advocates a defense of reason, taking a very personal, not to say doctrinaire stand on the world's unrest. Investigating public beliefs, either of a religious or political nature, he is apprehensive of the way individual freedom has been curbed by various forms of fundamentalism. Hence in his highly controversial collection of essays and short stories titled The second plane Amis renounces in an uncompromising way intellectual insularity and political dogmatism, but first and foremost, religious militancy. Politically LITERATURE R. Bartnik 94
Celem niniejszego artykułu jest zarysowanie tła literackiego, a także filozoficznego i społeczno-politycznego związanego z gatunkiem, który w 2017 roku Jon Day określił jako „Brexlit”. Artykuł skupia się na kluczowych powieściach brytyjskich, irlandzkich, a także tych utworach anglojęzycznych spoza kręgu kulturowego Wysp Brytyjskich, które zawierają w swojej treści, a czasem również formie, przesłanie dotyczące decyzji podjętej w referendum z 2016 roku, tj. decyzji o opuszczeniu przez Zjednoczone Królestwo Unii Europejskiej. Świat powieściowy w szczególnie przenikliwy i wrażliwy sposób zareagował na przemiany społeczno-polityczne w Wielkiej Brytanii oraz, przynajmniej częściowo, w Irlandii Północnej. Podstawowe pytanie, jakie stawiamy sobie tutaj, dotyczy roli dyskursu literackiego w konfrontacji z rzeczywistością społeczno-polityczną oraz rozmaitymi ideologiami oddziałującymi na mieszkańców Zjednoczonego Królestwa. Czy powieści z ostatnich kilku lat pokazują alternatywne scenariusze polityczne? Czy, z nieuniknionym poślizgiem komentując rzeczywistość europejską, są jedynie przesuniętym w czasie i załamanym przez światło ideologii odbiciem zmian społecznych – krzywymi lustrami kryzysu? Czy może istnieje w dyskursie powieściowym wciąż niedostatecznie wykorzystany potencjał do kształtowania i urzeczywistniania narracji fikcyjnych z myślą o lepszejprzyszłości kultury i całej sfery publicznej na Wyspach? Odpowiedź, jaką tu proponujemy, skupia się na podtrzymaniu ścisłych związków między ewolucją brytyjskiego rozumienia świata społeczno-politycznego a kulturą europejską sensu largo. Także kulturą antycypowaną lub projektowaną na najbliższą przyszłość. Pisarze brytyjscy oraz irlandzcy, odnosząc się do brexitu, niemal bez wyjątku akcentują przesłanie o zachowaniu ponadpolitycznej i ponadnarodowej wspólnoty – nawet w obliczu niedawnych podziałów.
In 2016, Great Britain held a national referendum on whether it should remain in or leave the European Union. A few years later, notwithstanding the decision's legal footing, the British Isles seem to have been caught in an impasse, perhaps even chaos. Over this period, the United Kingdom's credibility and prestige have dramatically decreased, which has disrupted certain sectors of the economy as well as enhanced the centrifugal forces of separatism. Furthermore, it has had wide ramifications for all of Europe, inflicting upon it an acute illness of a systemic nature. On top of that, in 2020 people in the Isles and on the continent have had to struggle with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no doubt that various troubles, calamities and recent political crises have taken a heavy toll on the collective frame of mind.Since literature is a good barometer of the overall mood, it is our intent to devote the upcoming issue of the Porównania journal to presenting some watersheds and turning points in the recent history of the British Isles and mainland Europe. Brexit, in this regard, has been no panacea for the ills of the modern world, but rather a trigger that has turned it into a tailspin. With the above in mind, we have invited various scholars, whose field of expertise is literary and comparative studies, to explore the phenomenon of Brexit, and its widespread consequences. The question we were interested in was whether
Brexit, as seen from the present perspective, is seemingly a success story. Taking into account a myriad of voices expressed in the public domain over the past few years, it is legitimate to make a cautious claim that some of the expectations people shared before/during the referendum have been inflated and deflated in the post-plebiscite reality. In 2016, across the majority that voted for the divorce, a growing consensus on the soundness and solidity of pro-Leave arguments about Britain being in crisis was seen. The proponents of change had endorsed the policy of restoring a sense of national dignity. That mode of reasoning, though still present within current “British” mindsets, has been confronted with the “unplanned” turbulence of national (re) adjustment. The whole process of bidding farewell to the European Union has led to sentiments of uncertainty/anxiety/regret, rather than to the anticipated sense of satisfaction/relief. Therefore, it seems both vital and interesting to juxtapose the passion about restoring people’s trust in Britishness/Englishness, and its “exceptionality” with more sobering projections of a new post-Brexit world. In order to discuss the consequences of this self-inflicted condition, I will here elaborate on selected English literary texts. They feature authors who draw conclusions running parallel to Anderson’s assumptions that in times of crisis a general predilection for self-deluding (re)constructions of collective identity can be observed, which are variously expressed in a merely referential, subversive or satirical manner.
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