Alexander Kroll
- School: School of English, Drama and Film
- Supervisor: Dr. Adam Kelly
Social Trust and the Small Town in 21st-Century Irish and American Fiction
My research examines contemporary literary depictions of the small town, from the year 2000 to the present day. My claim is that the American and Irish small town setting has functioned symbolically as a locale distinguished by high levels of social intimacy and social trust among its denizens during the 19th and 20th centuries. Through the analysis of contemporary fictions, I aim to track the changes in trust relations in American and Irish small towns in the 21st century.
New social developments have altered life in Irish and American small towns, from shifts in local economic development to more globally sweeping changes such as the advent of the digital age. Contemporary fiction provides a glimpse into the lives of the people who inhabit these small towns and presents their experiences of social trust as the world continues to change around them. Additionally, contemporary fiction emphasizes creative variations of style and form, which can establish the text itself as a site of trust/mistrust between the author, narrator and reader. My thesis will examine multiple fictional genres and forms, analyzing realist novels, short stories, literary genre novels, and absurdist works that branch out into narrative unreliability and metaphysical surrealism. My central research question is the following: in what ways do contemporary fictions portray the status of social trust in the American or Irish small town, and do small towns still resonate in these literary texts as a locale of strong interpersonal trust in the 21st century?
(opens in a new window)Irish Association for American Studies
(opens in a new window)TRUST