Irish post-Joycean experimental novelists: O'Brien, Beckett, and Banville (Flann O'Brien, Samuel Beckett, John Banville)

The subject of my dissertation is the experimental novel in Ireland since the time of James Joyce. I examine six novels by three authors, each novel chosen because of the experimental nature of the work: Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman (completed 1940, published 1967), Samuel Beckett's Murphy (1938) and Watt (1945), and John Banville's The Newton Letter (1979), Mefisto (1981), and Athena (1995). The primary purpose of my study is to show how each of these three Irish novelists has found an individual voice while experimenting with the novelistic form.; For my critical approach I make use of the ideas about narrative of such writers as Henry James, M. M. Bakhtin, Gerard Genette, and James Phelan. Through these ideas I show how each author constructed his novels, and the significance of these constructions for the reader as well as for the continued development of experimental Irish fiction.; My study also considers the philosophical aspects of each novel. In The Third Policeman O'Brien creates his own Hell. His Hell is a place that borrows much of its philosophy regarding punishment from the Catholic Church, but also reflects the futility of life in Ireland. In the frustrating aimlessness of the postwar world of Beckett, characters find that they can no longer trust their own perceptions. I begin by examining the Kierkegaardian angst of Murphy and then consider the ethics of Beckett's bleak vision in Watt. The characters living in the morally confusing postmodern world that we find in the works of Banville also question their ability to perceive. But, following the novels The Newton Letter, Mefisto, and Athena chronologically, I show that Banville's writing becomes more ambiguous with each published work. By the time we reach Athena, the hope of understanding even the most basic matters seems to be called into question.; My conclusion is that while Irish fiction since the time of Joyce has been surprisingly conservative in both its technique and in its philosophy, these three writers have continued Joyce's quest to expand the boundaries of fiction while examining matters of philosophic importance.