Melissa Fegan – författare

The impact of the Irish famine of 1845-1852 was unparalleled in both political and psychological terms. The effects of famine-related mortality and emigration were devastating, in the field of literature no less than in other areas. In this incisive new study, Melissa Fegan explores the famine's legacy to literature, tracing it in the work of contemporary writers and their successors, down to 1919. Dr Fegan examines both fiction and non-fiction, including journalism, travel-narratives and the Irish novels of Anthony Trollope. She argues that an examination of famine literature that simply categorizes it as 'minor' or views it only as a silence or an absence misses the very real contribution that it makes to our understanding of the period. This is an important contribution to the study of Irish history and literature, sharply illuminating contemporary Irish mentalities.

The impact of the Irish famine of 1845-1852 was unparalleled in both political and psychological terms. The effects of famine-related mortality and emigration were devastating, in the field of literature no less than in other areas. In this incisive new study, Melissa Fegan explores the famine's legacy to literature, tracing it in the work of contemporary writers and their successors, down to 1919. Dr Fegan examines both fiction and non-fiction, including journalism, travel-narratives and the Irish novels of Anthony Trollope. She argues that an examination of famine literature that simply categorizes it as 'minor' or views it only as a silence or an absence misses the very real contribution that it makes to our understanding of the period. This is an important contribution to the study of Irish history and literature, sharply illuminating contemporary Irish mentalities.

"Wuthering Heights" is studied by first-year undergraduates worldwide but students often find it difficult to approach the novel's characters in a sophisticated way; typically dwelling on the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine, but without getting to grips with Bronte's complex development of these characters. Students also often forget that this novel, which is stereotyped as a novel about doomed love on the solitary Yorkshire moors, is in fact peopled with a large cast of idiosyncratic characters, each of whom plays an important part in the plot. Engaging with these characters will allow students to come to a better understanding of the themes, issues and context of "Wuthering Heights"."Character Studies" aims to promote sophisticated literary analysis through the concept of character. It demonstrates the necessity of linking character analysis to texts' themes, issues and ideas, and encourages students to embrace the complexity of literary characters and the texts in which they appear. The series thus fosters close critical reading and evidence-based discussion, as well as an engagement with historical context, and with literary criticism and theory.

"Wuthering Heights" is studied by first-year undergraduates worldwide but students often find it difficult to approach the novel's characters in a sophisticated way; typically dwelling on the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine, but without getting to grips with Bronte's complex development of these characters. Students also often forget that this novel, which is stereotyped as a novel about doomed love on the solitary Yorkshire moors, is in fact peopled with a large cast of idiosyncratic characters, each of whom plays an important part in the plot. Engaging with these characters will allow students to come to a better understanding of the themes, issues and context of "Wuthering Heights"."Character Studies" aims to promote sophisticated literary analysis through the concept of character. It demonstrates the necessity of linking character analysis to texts' themes, issues and ideas, and encourages students to embrace the complexity of literary characters and the texts in which they appear. The series thus fosters close critical reading and evidence-based discussion, as well as an engagement with historical context, and with literary criticism and theory.

Readers and critics have been intrigued - and disturbed - by the characters of Wuthering Heights since its publication in 1847. Heathcliff and Catherine, the tormented and enigmatic lovers at the centre of the novel, have justifiably been the focus of critical attention. Yet the novel is peopled with a large cast of idiosyncratic characters, each of whom plays a significant role in the plot. This novel, with its references to physiognomy and monomania, its interest in dreams as revelations of the unconscious mind, and its recognition of the importance of origins in character-formation, reflects important developments in the conception of character and psychology in the nineteenth century.