Abstract

This thesis is a commentary on Patrick McCabe's novel, The Butcher Boy, which was published in 1992. The novel is told through the perspective of the main character, Francie Brady, who through the majority of the narration is depicted as a young boy. Francie's life is riddled with tragedy with his moving from the loss of one important person in his life to another until the pain of these losses triggers a violent paranoid outburst resulting in the murder of the fixation of an obsession of his, Mrs. Nugent. This thesis looks at the events of the novel through the perspective and insight provided by Ursula K. Heise's theories of "posthistory" and the "hyper-present," as well as Paul Grainge's concepts of the "Mood" and the "Mode" of nostalgia.

Degree

MA

College and Department

Humanities; English

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2016-09-01

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd8901

Keywords

The Butcher Boy, Patrick McCabe, time, postmodernism, end of history, posthistory, hyper-present, nostalgia, Ursula K. Heise, Paul Grainge

Language

english

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