What makes a "great" Irish novel in the twenty-first century, and who gets to decide? This volume brings together leading scholars of Irish literature to explore this very question. Rather than assembling a definitive canon, Great Irish Novels of the Twenty-First Century takes a more revealing approach: each contributor selects a novel they consider "great," reflecting on the critical and cultural processes that informed their choice. The result is not a ranked list, but a conversation about literary taste and value, and the evolving role of literary criticism today. Spanning internationally acclaimed authors and lesser-known voices alike, the essays illuminate how contemporary Irish fiction renegotiates enduring concerns - history and memory, family and identity, art and imagination - while engaging with the social and political realities of twenty-first-century Ireland in aesthetically rewarding ways. At once an exploration of contemporary Irish writing and a reflection on the practice of criticism itself, this volume invites readers to reconsider what it means to call a novel "great".


CONTENTS


Acknowledgements ix

Sarah Joy Link and Katharina Rennhak
Introduction: What is a Great Irish Novel of the Twenty-First Century? 1


Hedwig Schwall
Anne Enright, The Wig My Father Wore (1995): Reconstructing the Irish Family 11


Ralf Haekel
John Banville, The Sea (2005): Trauma, Memory, and Identity 29


Christoph Reinfandt
Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture (2008): Fictionalized History beyond Revisionism 45


Ina Bergmann
Colum McCann, TransAtlantic (2013): The Green Atlantic Revis(it)ed 61


Loredana Salis
Mary Morrissy, The Rising of Bella Casey (2013): Of Remembering and Forgetting 77


Derek Hand
Mike McCormack, Solar Bones (2016): The Anxieties of the Age - Art and Economics 91


Elke D'hoker
Sara Baume, A Line Made by Walking (2017): An Artist Novel for the Twenty-First Century 109


Katharina Rennhak
Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends (2017): A Novel for Millennials in Dublin and Beyond 127


Caroline Lusin
Colm Tóibín, House of Names (2