The Narrative Agency of Matter in Small Things Like These

Abstract

Ecological Postmodernism and New Materialism have driven the material turn of ecological criticism, making material an important critical springboard for studying novel texts. Scholars, Serenella Iovino and Serpil Oppermann were inspired to propose the concept of “narrative agency of matter”, which propelled the development of Material Ecocriticism. Material Ecocriticism (2014), a collection of papers co-edited by them, is a representative work in the theoretical construction of Material Ecocriticism. Small Things Like These is the second novella written by Irish modern writer Claire Keegan, which has won important literary awards upon its publication. Material Ecocriticism. Keegan resorts to “snow” and “coal” to integrate Irish traumatic history into her fictional imagination, telling a trivial but touching story. In this novel, “snow” and “coal” exist as images with discourse power, playing a crucial role in the construction of the entire story. The paper will focus on interpreting the narrative agency of these two materials, and will further explore Keegan’s unique writing style.