William Trevor Revaluations

William Trevor: Revaluations offers a comprehensive examination of the oeuvre of one of the most accomplished and celebrated practitioners writing in the English language, an author who has produced fifteen novels, three novellas and eleven volumes of short stories, as well as plays, radio and TV adaptations and film screenplays. Since the publication of his first novel in 1964, Trevor has either been a nominee for or a recipient of almost every major fiction prize. In many respects, he is that rare thing: a 'writer's writer', acclaimed by reviewers, and loved by generations of readers. Drawing on the talents of a team of distinguished, international scholars, the collection offers readings that are innovative, rigorous and timely. Rather than portraying Trevor simply as an 'Irish' or a 'traditional realist' writer, it locates his work within the contexts of both Irish and English cultures, stressing its transnational and contemporary compass. As well as re-examining his core concerns with individuality and the family, cultural and national identity, these essays extend the scope of current scholarship, scrutinising the author's prolonged concern with domestic, communal and national violence, his interrogation of patterns of inheritance and ideological heritage, and the impact of the past on the choices a person makes. The essays also address his affecting assessment of the intoxication of and need for love, and the breakdown in interpersonal relationships. William Trevor: Revaluations provides a much-needed interrogation of such issues, as well as a definitive introduction to the work of a major contemporary novelist and short-story writer.