William Trevor: Re-imagining Ireland

William Trevors' short stories and novels have won him widespread critical acclaim. Yet the Irishness of his work has never been fully explored. Since the late 1960s, Ireland has remained a major preoccupation in his writing. His Irish fiction is wide-ranging, including as its subject matter Dublin, middle-class Protestants, the North, the Big House, the Troubles, and the legacy of Irelands domination by England.

Trevor's work has been quietly dramatic in the face of great social and economic change. His stories urge the importance of resilience, the necessity for imagination. In fact, as Mary Fitzgerald-Hoyt shows, his Irish fiction calls for a re-imagining of Ireland as a diverse island. This book provides an excellent introduction to the work of one of Irelands leading contemporary writers and offers a fresh and up-to-date analysis of all of Trevors major works including The Hill Bachelors and Felicias Journey as well as his latest novel, The Story of Lucy Gault.

About the Author

Mary Fitzgerald-Hoyt is Professor of English at Siena College in New York.