This paper aims to explore Irishness, nationalism and resistance as three issues that typically characterize the early nineteenth century pre- Famine Irish society through a critical study of William Carleton's (1794- 1869) debut novel Fardorougha The Miser (1839). As famine is a fact of life in many pre- industrial societies, the Irish, rural society is no exception. Ireland is doomed with famines since the introduction of the potato growing to its land owing to either partial, or full crop failures. The potato blight which inflicted Ireland in 1945 caused the upper case Great Famine and attracted much critical attention worldwide, whereas relatively lower case famines of 1817 and 1822 for instance went unnoticed literary and critically, hence the purpose of this paper is to examine this neglected era. If not for Carleton, this critical moment in Ireland's history would have never been recorded. He gives a genuine portrayal of Pre- Famine Irish society which is obssessed with a fear of starvation, impoverished by a lack of food and cultural provisions, victimized by its famine conditions and authority mismanagement and threatened by vague politics and reckless violence. Fardorougha The Miser is not a reflection of the abhoring vice of avarice, but a product of its age; of pre- Famine, poverty- Stricken, badly ruled Ireland that is torn between an increasing sense of national identity and a growing current of secret resistance. Unlike loathing, literary misers like Molie`re's Harpagon, or Shakespeare's Shylock, Carleton's Fardorougha strikes as pathetic and his miserliness is partly justified being nourished in such dismal conditions. This paper employs Postcolonial theory and Cultural Studies theory drawing upon Edward Said's postcolonial critique, Frantz Fanon's revolutionary theory and cultural notions of racism in addition to Michel Foucault's concepts of power and practices of freedom which provide the necessary tools for understanding the three aforementioned issues that shape pre- Famine Irish society.
Hashish, N. (2019). Irishness, Nationalism, Resistance:
A Study of Pre- Famine Irish Society in
William Carleton's Fardorougha The Miser. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University, 47(6), 18-43. doi: 10.21608/aafu.2021.171625
MLA
Nadia Hashish. "Irishness, Nationalism, Resistance:
A Study of Pre- Famine Irish Society in
William Carleton's Fardorougha The Miser". Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University, 47, 6, 2019, 18-43. doi: 10.21608/aafu.2021.171625
HARVARD
Hashish, N. (2019). 'Irishness, Nationalism, Resistance:
A Study of Pre- Famine Irish Society in
William Carleton's Fardorougha The Miser', Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University, 47(6), pp. 18-43. doi: 10.21608/aafu.2021.171625
VANCOUVER
Hashish, N. Irishness, Nationalism, Resistance:
A Study of Pre- Famine Irish Society in
William Carleton's Fardorougha The Miser. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University, 2019; 47(6): 18-43. doi: 10.21608/aafu.2021.171625
)
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