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Irish women: a different voice in Iris Murdoch’s Something Special
Hawk Chang - Personal Name
This paper aims to do justice to Iris Murdoch’s contribution to Irish
short story writing. Although Murdoch is highly regarded among literary critics
and common readers around the world, she is primarily labeled as a distinguished
English novelist and philosopher. Grand narratives on themes such as
morality and existence demarcate the majority of Murdoch criticism, while the
fact that Dublin-born Murdoch also portrayed the contemporary Ireland she
envisioned is unfairly obscured. This paper discuses Murdoch’s only extant
short story titled Something Special, in which the dilemma of mid-twentiethcentury
Irish women is depicted. Introduction and conclusion aside, it falls into
three parts. Part one presents the plight of Irish women amid the patriarchal
society. Part two centers on the analysis of Yvonne Geary, the female protagonist
of the story, against the backdrop of male-centered Irish culture. In part
three, Yvonne’s dissatisfaction with the status quo as well as her efforts to get
out from under the patriarchal tradition is investigated. It is found that this less
documented Irish text sheds new light on the discussion of twentieth-century
Irish women by inventing the prototypical feminist character, Yvonne Geary,
and the story prefigures other feminist characters that subsequently arise in
contemporary Irish literature.
short story writing. Although Murdoch is highly regarded among literary critics
and common readers around the world, she is primarily labeled as a distinguished
English novelist and philosopher. Grand narratives on themes such as
morality and existence demarcate the majority of Murdoch criticism, while the
fact that Dublin-born Murdoch also portrayed the contemporary Ireland she
envisioned is unfairly obscured. This paper discuses Murdoch’s only extant
short story titled Something Special, in which the dilemma of mid-twentiethcentury
Irish women is depicted. Introduction and conclusion aside, it falls into
three parts. Part one presents the plight of Irish women amid the patriarchal
society. Part two centers on the analysis of Yvonne Geary, the female protagonist
of the story, against the backdrop of male-centered Irish culture. In part
three, Yvonne’s dissatisfaction with the status quo as well as her efforts to get
out from under the patriarchal tradition is investigated. It is found that this less
documented Irish text sheds new light on the discussion of twentieth-century
Irish women by inventing the prototypical feminist character, Yvonne Geary,
and the story prefigures other feminist characters that subsequently arise in
contemporary Irish literature.
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| EB00000002972K | Available |
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