Abstract
This introduction sets out the thematic concerns of the book by examining how literature, both in its narrative and poetic modes, is a discourse especially suited to commemorating, mourning and marking significant instances of loss in our lives. Elegies, laments, odes, encomia are all genres that speak to our need to talk about, and sometimes to, those whose loss we mourn. The introduction sets out the particular connections between Irish writing and loss and offers a brief synopsis of the many emblematic works of literature that take loss as their starting point. Loss here is a broad field encompassing loss of life, loss of identity, financial loss and loss of a sense of self.
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Flynn, D., O’Brien, E. (2018). Introduction: Defining Representations of Loss. In: Flynn, D., O'Brien, E. (eds) Representations of Loss in Irish Literature. New Directions in Irish and Irish American Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78550-9_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78550-9_1
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