ENGL 495 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Irish Short Story
4 Jun 2018
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7 February, 2018
The Lonely Voice (1962), by Frank O’Connor is a book about the short story
- The idea of a story determines its length, the length of the novel determines its form, the
form of the short story determines its length
- Which takes precedence? In both genres, one determines the other
- Short stories = central idea conveyed; novels = genres, not necessarily form,
form emerges as you read
- Maupassant was a French short story writer, O’Connor says that he sometimes began
his stories too soon
- Two notions of time, chronological and kairological
- Is it possible that The Patriot begins too soon?
- Relevance is not discovered until later
- Youghal is at start and beginning, Bradley is there throughout (all 4 scenes)
- Layering of temporality, starting at the end with the overview, then jumping back
to the beginning
- Starts with being in Youghal, then leaving Youghal, then passing through
Youghal (twice), then staying in Youghal → the history is needed to start in
Youghal for the full effect
- What is the political function of the short story in the Irish tradition?
- Stories about revolution and civil war, express a single sentiment with specificity
- Short stories are almost like pamphlets (propaganda?)
- The Patriot: polemicist v romantic; who is the true patriot? The orator that incites
the action or the soldier that carries out the action?
- After a year of imprisonment, Bernie commits himself to domesticity → is
there something patriotic about the domestic?
- Ideas of passion in The Patriot
- Bradley described as passionate → passion in terms of love v passion in
terms of politics
- Is being passionate in and of itself a good thing or not?
- Passion for Bradley is a public thing, he speaks against the English, Irish
traitors, politics; passion with Bernard is private passion for Norah
- Passions start to divide, lovers don’t cheer for Bradley, because they
understand where his passion leads, passion may not always have a
good end
- The beginning of the story → who narrates?
- The narrator seems snide, jealous, not their friend → is it possible Bradley
narrates (Bradley is always there)
- The end has an aspect of jealousy, appeased because Bradley is
expelled
- Norah and Bernard are on their honeymoon at the beginning, reader
expects a love story, instead gets a war story
Document Summary
The lonely voice (1962), by frank o"connor is a book about the short story. The idea of a story determines its length, the length of the novel determines its form, the form of the short story determines its length. Short stories = central idea conveyed; novels = genres, not necessarily form, form emerges as you read. Maupassant was a french short story writer, o"connor says that he sometimes began his stories too soon. Youghal is at start and beginning, bradley is there throughout (all 4 scenes) Layering of temporality, starting at the end with the overview, then jumping back to the beginning. Starts with being in youghal, then leaving youghal, then passing through. Youghal (twice), then staying in youghal the history is needed to start in. Stories about revolution and civil war, express a single sentiment with specificity. Short stories are almost like pamphlets (propaganda?) Bradley described as passionate passion in terms of love v passion in terms of politics.
