Artists and Writers: the Shared Art(s) of Éilís Ní Dhuibhne and Mary O’Donnell

Abstract

An analysis of the work of Éilís Ní Dhuibhne and Mary O’Donnell is a
way to honour the activities of the Brazilian Association of irish Studies, as both writers visited Brazil in 2016 and 2019, respectively, and their work has appeared in the ABEI Journal, along with critical essays on their creative production. Born in the same year, Ní Dhuibhne and O’Donnell are two of the most representative female voices in contemporary Irish writing, constantly crossing the borders between different interests, literary genres, and forms of artistic expression. In particular, both are
concerned with the awareness of the creative process, so that the conscious literariness of their fiction provides an interesting insight into the issue of writing itself. Throughout their careers, figures of artists, intellectuals, writers, students, teachers and academics constantly recur in their fiction, which displays an increasing concern with the figure of
the artist and the writer, creativity and the act of writing. The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare artist figures in the fiction of Éilís Ní Dhuibhne and Mary O’Donnell and relate them to their narrative strategies, focusing on creativity and on the consciousness of the creative process, disclosing hidden layers of meanings in their literary affinities.