"Getting the knack of the chains": the issue of transmission in "Crossing the line"
The aim of this paper is to show that beneath the surface of the familiar small town world that is represented as the background of the arrival of young teacher to take up his job, and in spite of the subdued tone of the narrative, two major issues are dealt with through the omnipresent issue of sym...
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| Wydane w: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/jsse, |
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| 1. autor: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
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Journal of the Short Story in English
2010
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| Dostęp online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Streszczenie: | The aim of this paper is to show that beneath the surface of the familiar small town world that is represented as the background of the arrival of young teacher to take up his job, and in spite of the subdued tone of the narrative, two major issues are dealt with through the omnipresent issue of symbolic filiation. The first one concerns the duties and privileges of the teaching profession as they are distorted by the young man’s would-be mentor Kennedy, who becomes the butt of McGahern’s satirical intention. Thanks to the ambivalence of the chain imagery introduced in the very title, the story can also be read as the dramatisation of McGahern’s decision to quit the profession and become a writer |
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