A Pagan Place (novel) explained

A Pagan Place
Author:Edna O'Brien
Country:Ireland
Language:English
Publisher:Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Pub Date:April 16, 1970
Media Type:Print
Pages:223 pages
Isbn:0-297-00027-6

A Pagan Place is a 1970 novel by Irish writer Edna O'Brien.[1] [2] The book was first published on April 16, 1970, by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and follows a young girl in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1972 A Pagan Place was adapted into a stage production,[3] which received mixed reviews.[4]

Style

A Pagan Place is narrated in second person in its entirety. As Shahriyar Mansouri argues, such a "melodic" narratorial voice, presented through the mouthpiece of second-person narrator signifies a lost sense of identity and independence for the post-independence Irish women.[5] The only occasion when the narratorial voice appropriates the first person pronoun 'I', indicating its presence and self-recognition, comes at the end of the novel, where the unnamed, young female protagonist embarks on her journey of formation.

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald praised the book's narrative, saying that it "flows along absorbingly without a line of direct dialogue".[6]

Notes and References

  1. News: Ungerer. Miriam. Story of Herself. https://archive.today/20130216160030/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/639744622.html?dids=639744622:639744622&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+19,+1970&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Story+of+herself&pqatl=google. dead. February 16, 2013. 6 January 2013. Chicago Tribune. Apr 19, 1970.
  2. Herman. David. Textual 'You' and double deixis in Edna O'Brien's 'A Pagan Place.'. Style. Fall 1994. 28. 3. 378.
  3. News: Barnes. Clive. Stage: Edna O'Brien's 'Pagan Place'; Play About a Girlhood in Ireland Opens The Cast American Premiere Is Given in New Haven. 6 January 2013. New York Times. January 31, 1974.
  4. News: Hobson. Harold. London's 'best new play in a long time'. https://archive.today/20130216162735/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/263084922.html?dids=263084922:263084922&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Nov+10,+1972&author=By+Harold+Hobson&pub=Christian+Science+Monitor&desc=London's+'best+new+play+in+a+long+time'&pqatl=google. dead. February 16, 2013. 6 January 2013. Christian Science Monitor. Nov 10, 1972.
  5. Mansouri. Shahriyar. Against the Oedipal Politics of Formation in Edna O'Brien's A Pagan Place: 'Women do not Count, Neither Shall they be Counted'. Studi irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies. 2013. 3. 3. 335–354.
  6. News: Curtin. Lorna. Pagan Place By Edna O'brien. 6 January 2013. The Sydney Morning Herald. Dec 4, 1970.

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