Ova doktorska disertacija bavi se irskom kulturom i književnosti kroz kratku priču, i to od
vremena antikolonijalnog nacionalizma na početku XX. stoljeća, preko postkolonijalnih
propitivanja nacionalnog identiteta u nastavku stoljeća, sve do njegovih suvremenih, uvjetno
rečeno globalnih, inačica početkom novoga tisućljeća. Glavna teza pritom je da
postkolonijalno čitanje prostora u modernoj irskoj kratkoj priči ne rasvjetljava samo putanje
nacionalne kulture i književnosti, kao predmeta proučavanja irskih studija, nego predstavlja
vrijedan doprinos metodologiji postkolonijalne teorije i izučavanjima kratke proze. Jedan od
ciljeva disertacije bio je utvrditi da li je, i ako jest kada, kratka proza kao kontražanr (Claudio
Guillén, 1971) u odnosu na engleski roman, uspjela doprinijeti dekolonizaciji potlačene
subjektivnosti. Sagleda li se poetika kratke proze u vidu napada na kulturalnu retoriku i
ustanka protiv društvenih normi kroz oslobođenje subjektivne vitalnosti, pokazuje se
pogrešnim, kao što je uvriježeno, govoriti o naturalizmu kao estetski dominantnom kulturnom
pravcu u irskoj književnosti. Oslanjajući se na tezu Franka O’Connora (1985) da je moderna
kratka proza dala glas podređenima, i, dodajmo, pritom ispisala biografiju mjesta kao
strategiju otpora s više nego stoljetnim povijesnim kontinuitetom, relevantnu kratku prozu
podijelili smo prema četiri skupine utvrđene sinkronijskim pogledom na njezin razvitak kroz
vrijeme. To su redom: Glasovi daleko od doma, Ženski glasovi, Domaći glasovi, i Nezreli
glasovi. Takvim pristupom spontane tjelesne prakse podčinjenih prepoznate su kao prostorne
intervencije u konkretno mjesto, a terminološki su objedinjene sintagmom 'pravljenja prostora
iz mjesta'. Dok je u postkolonijalnoj kritici, kao i njoj bliskim promišljanjima, uvriježeno
mjesto shvaćati sinonimnim s nekom specifičnom lokacijom ili svime što ima takozvani
konkretan lokalni karakter u vidu geopolitike otpora, a prostor dovoditi u vezu s apstraktnim
strujanjima globalnog kapitala, ideja 'pravljenja prostora iz mjesta' odnosi se na neplanirano,
neizvjesno i stoga nesigurno, ali istovremeno emancipacijsko prostorno djelovanje proizašlo
iz neukrotive heterogenosti kulture, običaja i postupaka tijelom upisanih u mjesto, a ne na
spacijalne prakse organiziranih pokreta otpora s manje ili više očekivanim ishodima. U takvoj
konstelaciji mjesto je pretvoreno u opredmećen prostor, koji, kroz neposredno i spontano
djelovanje pojedinaca unutar šire prostorne konstelacije, postaje područjem trajne
konstrukcije identiteta.This doctoral dissertation deals with Irish culture and literature through short stories, from the
time of anti-colonial nationalism at the beginning of the 20th century, through postcolonial
considerations of national identity throughout the 20th century, to its contemporary, global
version at the dawn of the new millennium. The main thesis is that a postcolonial reading of
space in modern Irish short story is not only illuminating in terms of the development of
national culture and literature, which is the subject of Irish studies, but can also represent a
valuable contribution to the methodology of postcolonial theory and short story theories. One
of the aims of the dissertation was to determine whether, and if so when, short story as a
countergenre (Claudio Guillén, 1971), in relation to the English novel, succeed in assisting
processes of decolonization. If the short story can be considered a form of attack on official
cultural rhetoric and an articulation against social norms through the liberation of subjective
vitality, it seems reductive to take naturalism as a dominant art form in Irish literature.
Relying on Frank O’Connor's thesis (1985) that the modern short story gave voice to
submerged populations, and adding that in Ireland it can be read as more than a century long
biography of place that, among other things, grew out of a strategy of resistance, the short
story production is devided into four groups which emerged from a synchronistic view of its
development throughout time. These are: Voices far from home, Women's voices, Voices at
home, and Immature voices. Such an approach has ensured a recognition of spontaneous
subaltern practices as spatial interventions into a concrete place, labelled with the syntagm of
'making space out of place'. While postcolonial criticism, as well as similar conceptualizations
of space, liken place with specific locations or anything that has the so-called specific local
character and associate space with abstract flows of global capital, the idea of 'making space
from place' refers to unplanned, uncertain and therefore insecure, while at the same time
emancipatory spatial actions, stemming from an intact heterogeneity of culture, customs, and
bodyly practices inscribed in place, rather than the spatial practices of organized resistance
movements with more or less expected outcomes. In such a context, place becomes pervasive
space that is turned into an area of permanent identity construction through direct and
spontaneous actions of individuals placed within broader spatial constellations
