Revisionism and Historiographical Fiction: Death and Nightingales by Eugene McCabe

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Published: Jan 1, 2008

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Tony O’Neill

Abstract

The novel Death and Nightingales by the Irish writer Eugene McCabe exists at the confluence of revisionism in the study of Irish history and the trend toward historiographical fiction in contemporary Irish literature. The novel resurrects the perspective of a moribund class traditionally demonised or excluded from the traditional teleological account of modern Ireland’s emergence from colonial rule: the Ulster Protestant landlord class. The effect of the novel is to offer a challenging counter-narrative to the conventional account of modern Irish history and, at the same time, contribute to an emergent postrevisionism.

Article Details

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No. 1 (2008): Thoughts 2008
Section
Articles

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Author Biography

Tony O’Neill

Tony O’Neill teaches at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. He has an MA in Commonwealth Literature from the University of Leeds. He was born in Ireland.

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