Coilin Owens – författare

Martyrdom is a controversial and disputed concept. Just as religion is often hijacked by politics, martyrdom is frequently ascribed to a narrow, partisan, and parochial foundation. This is the first book to present varied views on the topic of martyrdom, reaching beyond cliches and simplistic explanations to provoke deep consideration of the essential nature of human beings and society. The volume's authors—experts in the disciplines of psychology, theology, and politics—examine martyrdom in thoughtful and thought-provoking chapters. A closing conversation between the authors is designed to inspire further discourse and debate.Readers engaged in the exploration of social justice, conflict, psychology, religion, and the politics of memory will find this book unique and stimulating. The authors have appeared on public television and public radio, as well as ABC, CBS, and NBC news and discussion programs.

Joyce’s “After the Race” is a seemingly simple tale, historically unloved by critics. Yet when magnified and dismantled, the story yields astounding political, philosophic, and moral intricacy.In Before Daybreak, Cóilín Owens shows that “After the Race” is much more than a story about Dublin at the time of the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup Race: in reality, it is a microcosm of some of the issues most central to Joycean scholarship. These issues include large-scale historical concerns—in this case, radical nationalism and the centennial of Robert Emmet’s rebellion. Owens also explains the temporary and local issues reflected in Joyce’s language, organisation, and silences. He traces Joyce’s narrative technique to classical, French, and Irish traditions. Additionally, “After the Race” reflects Joyce’s internal conflict between emotional allegiance to Christian orthodoxy and contemporary intellectual scepticism. If the dawning of Joyce’s singular power, range, subtlety, and learning can be identified in a seemingly elementary text like “After the Race,” this study implicitly contends that any Dubliners story can be mined to reveal the intertextual richness, linguistic subtlety, parodic brilliance, and cultural poignancy of Joyce’s art. Owens’s meticulous work will stimulate readers to explore Joyce’s stories with the same scrutiny in order to comprehend and relish how Joyce writes.

In order to demonstrate that one story from the Dubliners is not only a turning point in that book but also a microcosm of a wide range of important Joycean influences and preoccupations, Cóilín Owens examines the dense intertextuality of "A Painful Case." Assuming the position of the ideal contemporary Irish reader that Joyce might have anticipated, Owens argues that the main character, James Duffy, is a "spoiled priest," emotionally arrested by his guilt at having rejected the call to the priesthood. Duffy's intellectual life thereafter progresses through German idealism to eventual nihilism. The contrast of nihilist thought and Christian belief is Owens's main focus, and he demonstrates how this dichotomy is evident at various points in the life of James Duffy. From this springboard, Owens constructs a larger discussion of Joyce's cultural influences, including Schopenhauer, Wagner, Tolstoy, and others. He considers many other complex interrelationships that inform Joyce's text--theology, philosophy, music, opera, literary history, Irish cultural history, and Joyce's own poetry--and offers detailed elucidations informed by historical, geographical, linguistic, and biographical information.

Joyce's ""After the Race"" is a seemingly simple tale, historically unloved by critics. Yet when magnified and dismantled, the story yields astounding political, philosophic, and moral intricacy.In Before Daybreak, Cóilín Owens shows that ""After the Race"" is much more than a story about Dublin at the time of the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup Race: in reality, it is a microcosm of some of the issues most central to Joycean scholarship.These issues include large-scale historical concerns--in this case, radical nationalism and the centennial of Robert Emmet's rebellion. Owens also explains the temporary and local issues reflected in Joyce's language, organization, and silences. He traces Joyce's narrative technique to classical, French, and Irish traditions. Additionally, ""After the Race"" reflects Joyce's internal conflict between emotional allegiance to Christian orthodoxy and contemporary intellectual skepticism.If the dawning of Joyce's singular power, range, subtlety, and learning can be identified in a seemingly elementary text like ""After the Race,"" this study implicitly contends that any Dubliners story can be mined to reveal the intertextual richness, linguistic subtlety, parodic brilliance, and cultural poignancy of Joyce's art. Owens’s meticulous work will stimulate readers to explore Joyce's stories with the same scrutiny in order to comprehend and relish how Joyce writes.

"An eminently insightful and informative study of a single story, as well as a profound exploration of Joyce''s position within his own historical moment and its most urgent philosophical and religious questions."--James Joyce Quarterly"One of the more intellectually capacious, wide-ranging studies on Joyce and his work to emerge in some time. . . . Owens''s book is among the finest studies of Dubliners ever written as well as among the best--most provocative, revealing, and useful--critical works on Joyce to be published in some time."--Philological Quarterly"While Owens has captured the breadth of subjects that a casebook would offer, he balances his readings with a great deal of focused and specific close reading. . . . This book is an excellent companion for reading ''A Painful Case'' and would be essential reading for anyone engaging in an in-depth study of Dubliners."--James Joyce Literary Supplement"Inspires awe, admiration, and wonder. . . . There is something new for every Joyce student and scholar to learn from Owens''s thorough research."--English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920 In order to demonstrate that one story from the Dubliners is not only a turning point in that book but also a microcosm of a wide range of important Joycean influences and preoccupations, Cóilín Owens examines the dense intertextuality of "A Painful Case."   Assuming the position of the ideal contemporary Irish reader that Joyce might have anticipated, Owens argues that the main character, James Duffy, is a "spoiled priest," emotionally arrested by his guilt at having rejected the call to the priesthood. Duffy''s intellectual life thereafter progresses through German idealism to eventual nihilism. The contrast of nihilist thought and Christian belief is Owens''s main focus, and he demonstrates how this dichotomy is evident at various points in the life of James Duffy.   From this springboard, Owens constructs a larger discussion of Joyce''s cultural influences, including Schopenhauer, Wagner, Tolstoy, and others. He considers many other complex interrelationships that inform Joyce''s text--theology, philosophy, music, opera, literary history, Irish cultural history, and Joyce''s own poetry--and offers detailed elucidations informed by historical, geographical, linguistic, and biographical information.