The Irish short story: A tale of minorities, imperialism, and canonical consequences

This study critically analyzes the Irish short narrative, traditional tales, and the short story to demonstrate the continuity of what I wish to identify as a “national literature,” a variety of postcolonial literature. Such an examination of the Irish short narrative identifies the form as an indigenous genre and redeems its most recent manifestation, the short story, from critical denunciation or from critical domestication. Examples of short fiction emphasize narratives addressing issues of race, gender, affiliation, geography, linguistic oppression, and indigenous culture. Each section focuses upon key cultural developments in an interconnected, interdisciplinary manner, tracing the development of the short story genre in Irish short narratives, and utilizing postcolonial theory to provide a meaningful analysis of these periods.