This first book-length study of the fiction of John McGahern traces his development as an artist by providing a detailed reading of each of his five novels and three collections of short stories. Denis Sampson argues that McGahern's treatment of time and consciousness, of self, story, and fictional form, of memory and narrative voice, and of the self-referential autobiographical subject defines an integrated set of fictions as the work of a major artist. Sampson's study sheds light on the enigmatic McGahern for scholars and students of contemporary Irish literature, modern European literature, and contemporary fiction.
