The postmodern folktales of Éilís Ní Dhuibhne

Abstract

Although the success of the Irish short story is traditionally put down to the influence of the strong story-telling tradition in Ireland, actual traces of this influence have largely disappeared in recent years. A notable exception to this trend, however, is Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, whose work is heavily indebted to the Irish folklore tradition. In this article I try to determine how ancient folktale and postmodern short story are successfully, yet critically, connected in her collection The Inland Ice and Other Stories (1997). The most explicit link between the modern and the myth is provided by Ní Dhuibhne’s feminist re-writing of an Irish fairytale, “The Story of the Little White Goat”. Yet, the use of repetition, the simple and straightforward style and intrusions of the narrator in the other short stories also bear witness to the influence of the oral tradition. In addition, the short stories take over the thematic concerns of love, loss and marriage from the original fairytale. At the same time, however, the short stories also warn against an all too close identification of fantasy and reality, of the folktale and real life.