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Lukas Preuß (Wuppertal): "Identity, Ideology, and Narrative Technique
in Contemporary Irish-American Fiction"
Abstract
Despite its numerous award-winning authors and a long and rich tradition reaching as far back as the 18th century, Irish-American fiction is a staggeringly under-researched area of American Literary Studies. Even though this alone would make it a worthy object of research, the peculiar position of the Irish minority in the United States, which has received increasing attention within the social sciences since the 1990s, indicates the absolute necessity of also turning a critical eye towards the cultural practices and attitudes of this ethnic group.
This increased attention has been mainly due to the importance of the Irish minority in the United States for understanding the historical construction of America's racial hierarchy and the way it intersects with issues of class. Consequently, my dissertation project draws on Fredric Jameson's notion of the “ideology of the form” and uses a Cultural Narratology framework that combines the precise analytical tools provided by structuralist narratology as well as a number of context-oriented critical approaches (e.g. Cultural Studies, Critical Whiteness Studies, Post-Marxist literary theory) to examine how cultural identity and its ideological implications are narratively constructed and negotiated in contemporary Irish-American fiction.
In my presentation, I would like to give a more in-depth explanation of the aforementioned issues. Furthermore, I would like to illustrate my research method by doing a sample analysis of one of the novels in question (most likely Colum McCann's post-9/11 novel Let the Great World Spin).
This increased attention has been mainly due to the importance of the Irish minority in the United States for understanding the historical construction of America's racial hierarchy and the way it intersects with issues of class. Consequently, my dissertation project draws on Fredric Jameson's notion of the “ideology of the form” and uses a Cultural Narratology framework that combines the precise analytical tools provided by structuralist narratology as well as a number of context-oriented critical approaches (e.g. Cultural Studies, Critical Whiteness Studies, Post-Marxist literary theory) to examine how cultural identity and its ideological implications are narratively constructed and negotiated in contemporary Irish-American fiction.
In my presentation, I would like to give a more in-depth explanation of the aforementioned issues. Furthermore, I would like to illustrate my research method by doing a sample analysis of one of the novels in question (most likely Colum McCann's post-9/11 novel Let the Great World Spin).
Bio
I studied English, Mathematics, and History at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. My 2011 graduation thesis was titled “Paul Auster's Chinese Boxes: Framing and Embedding in Moon Palace and Man in the Dark,” and on June 29, 2012 I was able to present part of these research findings at the international symposium “The New York Trilogy and the American Metropolis” held at the University of Northampton, UK. Since January 2012 I am working on my PhD thesis, which I would like to present as work in progress at the Postgraduate Forum.
Since I only started half a year ago, my project is still in its early stages. In June 2012, however, I had a first opportunity to present my ideas at the White Spaces Workshop at the University of Mannheim.
Currently I am working as a research assistant (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the University of Wuppertal, teaching courses on American postmodernism (SS 12) and Irish-American fiction (WS 12/13).
My research Interests are Ethnic Literatures of the United States (obviously with a current focus on Irish-American fiction), American Postmodernism, Narratology, Cultural Studies.
Since I only started half a year ago, my project is still in its early stages. In June 2012, however, I had a first opportunity to present my ideas at the White Spaces Workshop at the University of Mannheim.
Currently I am working as a research assistant (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the University of Wuppertal, teaching courses on American postmodernism (SS 12) and Irish-American fiction (WS 12/13).
My research Interests are Ethnic Literatures of the United States (obviously with a current focus on Irish-American fiction), American Postmodernism, Narratology, Cultural Studies.