Manchester University Press The Judas Kiss: Treason and Betrayal in Six Modern Irish Novels

This book argues that modern Irish history encompasses a deep-seated fear of betrayal, and that this fear has been especially prevalent since the revolutionary period at the outset of the twentieth century. The author goes on to argue that the novel is the literary form most apt for the exploration of betrayal in its social, political and psychological dimensions. The significance of this thesis comes into focus in terms of a number of recent developments - most notably, the economic downturn (and the political and civic betrayals implicated therein) and revelations of the Catholic Church's failure in its pastoral mission. As many observers note, such developments have brought the language of betrayal to the forefront of contemporary Irish life. This book offers a powerful analysis of modern Irish history as regarded from the perspective of some its most incisive minds, including James Joyce, Liam O'Flaherty, Elizabeth Bowen, Francis Stuart, Eugene McCabe and Anne Enright. Review 'From Celtic legends to the Catholic Church's institutional abandonment of its abused children, betrayal has been a surprisingly consistent theme in Irish culture. Informers, adulterers, traitors and spies proliferate in the pages of The Judas kiss as Gerry Smyth unfolds this theme in modern Irish literature with wit, grace, and an enviably broad erudition. If it is the sign of the pertinence of any critical theme to a tradition (another form of 'betrayal') that one finds oneself multiplying other possible examples, then The Judas kiss succeeds marvellously in making its case: one finds oneself constantly thinking of yet more works in Irish literature which Smyth's arguments would illuminate. Betrayal, as the book shows, is everywhere, from Joyce's Ulysses to Enright's The Gathering. And yet The Judas kiss is no less a book of great fidelity, bringing back into mind a number of unjustly neglected novels, like Liam O'Flaherty's The Informer, Elizabeth Bowen's World War II thriller, The Heat of the Day, or Francis Stuart's Black List Section H, and forcibly reminds us how they fit into the fabric of modern Irish writing. The Judas kiss charts a surprising path through Irish literature, but on every page its insights compel assent. That is the proof of criticism of a very high order.' --David Lloyd, Distinguished Professor of English at the University of California 'Readers can't fail to be surprised, even astonished, by the mother lode of meaning and implication Gerry Smyth uncovers in The Judas kiss. The inflections of betrayal, treachery and infidelity he finds in modern Irish fiction, and by both implication and explication in Irish society, are shockingly numerous. Betrayal accompanies human nature and Christian culture, but is also potently Irish in its fictional and cultural incidence. The book cuts a broader literary swathe than its six subject novelists would suggest, and its critical imprint may well prove indelible.' --John Wilson Foster, author of Irish Novels 1890-1940: New Bearings in Culture and Fiction (2008) From the Inside Flap This book argues that modern Irish history encompasses a deep-seated fear of betrayal, and that this fear has been especially prevalent throughout Irish society since the revolutionary period at the outset of the twentieth century. The author goes on to argue that the novel is the literary form most apt for the exploration of betrayal in its social, political and psychological dimensions. The significance of this thesis comes into focus in terms of a number of recent developments most notably, the economic downturn (and the political and civic betrayals implicated therein) and revelations of the Catholic Churchs failure in its pastoral mission. As many observers note, such developments have brought the language of betrayal to the forefront of contemporary Irish life. After an introductory section in which he considers betrayal from a variety of religious, psyc