Gender Relations and Female Agency in Claire Keegan’s <i>Antarctica</i>

Abstract Claire Keegan is one of the most prominent voices within contemporary Irish short story panorama. Internationally acclaimed, her prose has been praised for its frank and bitter portrayal a rural world, whose outdated values, no matter how anchored in past they might be, still prevail modern milieu. Keegan’s unsympathetic views on society, mainly Catholic Church family, are main targets harsh criticism. Issues like gender sexuality, two social constructs with which to validate an uneven distribution power, constitute pillars plots. Bearing these aspects mind, my proposal focuses analysis first collection stories, Antarctica (1999), light relations female agency, attempt find patterns – often thwarted emancipation context rapid changes society that adjusting globalised world. This article will also engage discussion second collection, Walk Blue Fields (2007), long Foster (2010).