Breaking Enmities: Religion, Literature and Culture in Northern Ireland, 1967-97

This book discusses relationships among religion, literature and ethnicity in North Ireland since 1967. The introduction provides a theoretical account of how literature engages sectarian prejudices, allowing these to be played out in ways that can help dissolve or mitigate the alienating effects of traditional enmities. Subsequent chapters deal with identity, endogamy, education, gender, and imprisonment. Each chapter combines an analysis of specific cultural issues of relationships between Northern Ireland and other modern societies facing analogous problems in a post-modern world marked by rapid globalization.