| Abstract | Ova doktorska disertacija istražuje i utvrđuje načine reprezentiranja neoliberalne ekonomske paradigme i s njome povezanih tendencija kretanja kapitala i novca te njegova utjecaja na različite segmente društva u Irskoj u od sredine prvog do sredine drugog desetljeća 21. stoljeća. Istraživanje obuhvaća osam proznih naslova irskih spisateljica mlađe generacije, koje su svoje proze objavile u periodu od 2006. - 2016. godine. Odabrani književni arhiv tematski zahvaća motive materijalnog blagostanja kao pokretača moralnog rasapa društva, ulogu fiktivnog kapitala u stvaranju društvene utopije blagostanja, liberalizaciju tržišta nekretnina i nastanak koncepta 'ghost estates' u Irskoj i njegove posljedice na etos društva, odnos neoliberalne ekonomije i kreativne industrije, te neoliberalnu paradigmu kao pokretač dekonstrukcije koncepta osobnog prostora. Istraživanje je primarno usredotočeno na analizu ekonomskih reprezentacija u suvremenom irskom romanu, odnosno na reprezentaciju povezanu s neoliberalnim ekonomskim procesima u irskom društvu u 21. stoljeću, a kao adekvatno polazište analize pokazali su se teorijski uvidi nove ekonomske kritike koja je svoj snažniji razvoj doživjela tijekom 80-ih i 90-ih godina 20. stoljeća. Njezin temeljni cilj bio je usustavljivanje teorijsko-kritičkog aparata utemeljenog na ekonomskim paradigmama i modelima te problematiziranje modusa interdisciplinarnosti dviju znanstvenih disciplina – ekonomije i književnosti. Stoga se ovo istraživanje oslanja primarno na teorijski okvir nove ekonomske kritike da bi ponudilo znanstvene uvide u ženske književne predodžbe društveno-ekonomskih transformacija Irske u periodu ekonomskog prosperiteta, te u godinama koje su uslijedile nakon ekonomskog kraha. Uvid u dosadašnja istraživanja o literarnom tematiziranju ekonomskih aspekata irske suvremenosti otkriva da je ovo područje i dalje podzastupljeno i da je nužno posvetiti mu dodatne znanstvene pozornosti. Tim više što se Irska nameće kao svojevrsna „ekonomska anomalija“ (Cronin, Kirby i Ging, 2009: 2) u kontekstu suvremene ekonomske kritike što je mogući razlog vidljive epistemološke praznine u zonama interdisciplinarnog pristupa istraživanju veza između ekonomije i suvremene irske književnosti. Smatramo kako aktualnosti i opravdanosti ovoga istraživanja doprinosi činjenica da se istraživanje bavi analizom proza suvremenih ženskih autora što samo po sebi doprinosi relevantnosti istraživanja budući da su upravo ženski glasovi zadnja dva desetljeća ostali na marginama ekonomskih zbivanja u Irskoj. Naime, Irska je u periodu od sredine 1990-ih do 2008. godine, proživjela period golemoga gospodarskog razvitka koji je u javnom diskursu ekonomije predočen sintagmom 'keltski tigar'. Taj period, obilježen snažnim gospodarskim rastom, za naciju povijesno obilježenu masovnim emigracijama stanovništva u bijegu od gospodarske zaostalosti, gladi i siromaštva, značio je zaustavljanje emigracijskih valova mladih ljudi, ali i visoku stopu priljeva novog stanovništva iz svih krajeva svijeta. Vladajuće strukture u Irskoj otvorile su granice Irske krupnom kapitalu olakšavajući investiranje u zaostalu ekonomiju. Nažalost, problemi na američkom hipotekarnom tržištu uzrokovani liberalizacijom tržišta nekretnina i financijskih tržišta, ali bez odgovarajuće regulative, uzdrmali su globalnu ekonomiju a time i Irsku koju je kriza dramatično pogodila uvodeći je u duboku ekonomsku recesiju od 2008. – 2014. godine. Ona se očitovala, između staloga, naglim padom vrijednosti nekretnina, nemogućnošću vraćanja preuzetih kreditnih obveza, padom kreditne sposobnosti Irske, te destabiliziranim bankarskim sektorom. Stoga je i ovo istraživanje motivirano uvjerenjem kako je globalna financijska kriza, kao i neoliberalna tržišna politika koje je dovela do krize snažan izazov granicama književnosti kao discipline jer je sama globalna kriza, kao izvantekstualni događaj, destabilizirala disciplinarne granice i u prvi plan je postavila književni tekst koji ulazi u dijalog s aktualnim trenutkom. Budući da istraživanje polazi od pretpostavke da je irska iteracija neoliberalnog kapitalizma upravo paradigmatski primjer razorne moći globalnih kretanja kapitala, kao i primjer uvelike fikcionalnog karaktera financija u 21. stoljeću, ovaj rad ima za cilj ponuditi, prema našoj spoznaji, prvo sustavno, znanstveno istraživanje problematike ženske literarne reprezentacije neoliberalizma s naglaskom na neke od marginaliziranih posljedica njegova destruktivnog djelovanja na irski identitet. |
| Abstract (english) | This doctoral dissertation deals with literary representations of the neoliberal paradigm in contemporary Irish women's fiction published between 2006 and 2016. The research includes eight prose titles that thematically capture the following motives: material well-being as a driver of the moral decay of society, the role of fictitious capital in the creation of a social utopia of well-being, the liberalization of the real estate market and the emergence of the concept of 'ghost estates' in Ireland and its consequences on the ethos of society, the relationship between the neoliberal economy and the creative industry, and the neoliberal paradigm as the driving force behind the deconstruction of the concept of personal space. Since the research is primarily focused on the analysis of economic representations in the contemporary Irish novel, that is, on the representations associated with neoliberal economic processes in Irish society at the turn of the century and in the first two decades of the 21st century, the theoretical insights of the New economic criticism proved to be an adequate starting point for the analysis since its main goal was to establish a theoretical-critical apparatus based on economic paradigms and models and to problematize the mode of interdisciplinarity at the dividing line between two scientific disciplines - economics and literature. An insight into previous research on the literary thematization of economic aspects of Irish modernity reveals that this area is still underrepresented and that it requires additional scientific attention. All the more so as Ireland emerges as a kind of "economic anomaly" (Cronin, Kirby and Ging, 2009: 2) in the context of contemporary economic criticism, which is a possible reason for the visible epistemological gap in the zones of an interdisciplinary approach to researching the links between economics and contemporary Irish literature. We believe that the relevance and the justification of this research is determined by the fact that it deals with the analysis of prose fiction by contemporary female authors, which in itself contributes to the relevance of the research, since women's voices have remained on the margins of economic events in Ireland for the last two decades. Namely, in the period from the mid-1990s to 2008, Ireland experienced a period of enormous economic development, which in the public discourse of economics was dubbed 'Celtic Tiger'. That period, marked by strong economic growth, for a nation historically impacted by mass emigration of the population fleeing economic backwardness, hunger and poverty, meant stopping the emigration waves of young people, but also a high rate of influx of new population from all over the world. Irish policy makers have opened Ireland's borders to big capital at the start of the 1990s, making it easier to invest in a then stagnating economy. Unfortunately, the problems in the American mortgage market caused by the liberalization of the real estate and financial markets, but without proper regulation, shook the global economy, including Ireland which was dramatically affected by the crisis that subsequently led to deep economic recession from 2008 to approximately 2014 when it slowly starts to regain its economic stability. The economic recession manifested itself, among other things, in a sudden drop in the value of real estate, the impossibility of repaying credit obligations, a decline in Ireland's creditworthiness, and a destabilized banking sector. Therefore, this research is motivated by the belief that the global financial crisis, as well as the neoliberal market policy that led to the crisis, is a strong challenge to the boundaries of literature as a discipline, because the global crisis itself, as an extra-textual event, destabilized disciplinary boundaries and placed a literary text in a dialogue with the current moment. Since the research starts from the assumption that the Irish iteration of neoliberal capitalism is a paramount example of the destructive power of global movements of capital, as well as an example of the largely fictional character of finance in the 21st century, this work aims to offer, to our knowledge, the first systematic, scientific investigation of the issue of female literary representations of neoliberalism with an emphasis on some of the marginalized consequences of its destructive effect on Irish identity. The dissertation is structured in eleven chapters, with the first chapter conceptualising the topic and outlining the goals and the purpose of the research, as well as its main scientific contribution. Chapters two – six provide an overview of theoretical framework and continue to focus more specifically on the issues of neoliberalism as an economic, social but also political concept. Thus, Chapter two outlines the theoretical framework of New economic criticism; Chapter three discusses the neoliberal economic paradigm as a challenge to literary representation, and Chapter four focuses on the impact of neoliberalism on societal changes and paradigm shifts. Chapter five deals with the displacement of representational paradigms of Irish Identity with the focus on social dislocations occurring as the overpowering effects of economic prosperity overturned the 'old' identity representations. Chapter six offers a narrow focus on issues related to the highly fictionalized character of the modern finance and establishes its possible ties to literary fictionality. Chapters seven to ten are analytical chapters which provide evidence of the hypotheses outlined at the outset. As stated at the beginning of this text, those chapters include analysis of eight novels by contemporary Irish female writers who come to grips with the Irish neoliberal paradigm. They do so by subverting and contesting predominant socio-economic interventions into the Irish public and private spheres. Chapter eleven concludes the discussion and provides an overview of the research findings. The dissertation closes with an extensive bibliography. |
