A Study Of Marginalization In Sebastian Barry’s Fiction

Sebastian Barry is one of the finest contemporary Irish writers,and his work has been nominated for the Booker Prize several times.In addition to writing fiction,Barry has also written poetry and drama,and his works are full of love for the Irish nation and profound reflections on history.This paper focuses on three novels in his Dunne family tetralogy,A Long Long Way,Anne Dunne,and On Canaan’s Side,analyzing the author’s unique observations and perceptions of Ireland’s marginal history,feeling the author’s way of shaping marginal characters and emotional attachment,so as to appreciate the author’s attitude toward historical truth and review the heavy fate and survival plight of the Irish in history.The author’s approach to historical reality and the heavy fate and plight of the Irish in history.Barry uses the perspective of the marginal characters to show his own gaze and reflection on Irish history,and also reveals his tolerance and open attitude toward history and his determination to repair the wounds of the Irish.Borrowing from the study of marginalization born from socioeconomics,the marginalization embodied in Barry’s novel can start from exploring the causes of Ireland’s marginal history,considering the roots of history being marginalized and the author’s intention of rewriting marginal history;History creates marginal groups,the emotional experience,survival environment and identity of marginal groups are challenged,and the groups marginalized by history encounter existential dilemmas;In order to save themselves,the marginalized people begin to escape,fleeing to the memory of the past to ask questions of history.Barry inspects the Irish and Irish historical events as a retrospector and a reflector,linking personal memories with historical reality,placing individual memories in the collective memory,and recording the existential dilemmas of several generations of Irish people through the memories of the main characters or the testimonies of others.In the interpretation of the plot,the marginalized characters are given their own voices and their own stories are recorded,whether they are in Ireland proper or far across the Atlantic,all share similar experiences of survival on the margins.A Long Long Way,Annie Dunne and On Canaan’s Side,the plight of the characters in the novels gives rise to a reflection on marginalization.History creates marginalized people,and at the same time history is being marginalized;one cannot dwell on historical trauma,nor can one put history on hold;the trauma is uncovered in order to heal it.