Reappraisal of a Novelist from Northern Ireland, George A. Birmingham

我的研究项目是揭示乔治·A·伯明翰(1865-1950)的工作的价值和意义，他今天完全被忽视了。虽然他出生在一个新教家庭，但他成为了一名民族主义者，并写了小说中的主人公为独立的爱尔兰而战。然而，这些小说表明，实现爱尔兰独立是困难的，因为民族主义事业和统一主义事业同样合法。后来，他意识到，如果民族主义者和统一主义者顽固地忠于自己的事业，冲突永远不会得到解决。伯明翰开始相信，事情不应该太严肃。然后他转向写幽默小说，这表明了他对两个事业和解的善意和真诚的愿望。我对伯明翰的态度是阅读其他北爱尔兰小说家以及伯明翰，以阐明他的特殊意义。在北爱尔兰，小说被认为不如诗歌和戏剧那么杰出。但对北爱尔兰小说的阅读让我意识到，有很多重要的小说，它们的作者试图以自己的方式探索如何“跨越边界”。格伦·帕特森、罗伯特·麦克利亚姆·威尔逊和迪尔德丽·马登的小说尤其表明，北爱尔兰拥有丰富的多样性和超越民族主义和联合主义的可能性。通过伯明翰和其他北爱尔兰小说家的研究，我发现，即使他们只描述北爱尔兰的问题，他们的作品也有很多吸引世人的东西。我打算把我的研究成果出版成一本书，书名叫《躺在北爱尔兰小说中的可能性：寻求和解》和《普遍性》。

My research project was to reveal the value and the significance of the work of George A. Birmingham (1865 1950), who is totally neglected today. Although he was born in a Protestant family, he turned a Nationalist and wrote novels in which the protagonists fought for an independent Ireland. However, those novels show that the realization of an independent Ireland is difficult because the Nationalist cause and the Unionist cause are equally legitimate. Later he realized the fact that the conflict could never be solved if Nationalists and Unionists were to stick to their causes with bigotted allegiance. Birmingham came to believe that things should not be taken too seriously. Then he turned to writing humorous fiction, which showed his good wills and sincere wishes for reconciliation between both causes.My approach to Birmingham was to read other Northern Irish novelists as well as Birmingham to make clear his particular significance. In Northern Ireland, fiction is regarded as less distinguished than poetry and drama. But the reading of Northern Irish fiction made me realize that there are many significant novels and their authors try to explore in their own ways how to "cross borders". Novels by Glenn Patterson, Robert McLiam Wilson and Deirdre Madden especially show that Northern Ireland holds rich diversities and possibilities that transcend Nationalism and Unionism.Through the research of Birmingham and other Northern Irish novelists, I discovered that, even if they only describe Northern Irish problems, their works hold a lot that appeal to universal minds. I am going to publish my research results in a book which will be called Possibilities That Lie in Northern Irish Fiction : Quests for "Reconciliation" and "Universality".