New Books in Psychoanalysis Jane Elizabeth Dougherty, "Narrating Irish Female Development, 1916-2018" (Edinburgh UP, 2024)
May 28, 2025
Jane Elizabeth Dougherty, a Professor at Southern Illinois University, dives into the evolution of Irish female narratives from 1916 to 2018. She explores how societal changes and key female writers have shaped these stories, often framing maturation as disordered and complex. Dougherty highlights the role of historical events and literary figures like Joyce and O'Brien in redefining female identity. The discussion also introduces the 'queer avuncular' concept, offering fresh perspectives on traditional narratives and emphasizing the ongoing struggle for gender equality in literature.
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Abjection in Female Development
- Christine Kristeva's concept of abjection illuminates the challenge for female subjects balancing identification with and separation from the maternal body.
- Irish women writers engage psychoanalytic ideas to explore incomplete separation from maternal figures.
Queer Avuncular Alternative Pathway
- The queer avuncular figure offers an alternative developmental pathway outside traditional Oedipal structures.
- Even canonical male authors like Joyce include avuncular characters, highlighting complex developmental influences.
Belatedness of Women's Narratives
- Irish women's developmental narratives are doubly belated, delayed both culturally and literarily.
- This belatedness reflects Ireland's complex postcolonial identity and women's constrained freedoms historically.
