“Five Notes After a Visit” follows an unnamed, female narrator travelling from England to Northern Ireland (Belfast/Derry) – where she was born – to visit her boyfriend Stewart. During her visit, she experiences troubles, tensions and a trauma that she reflects upon in diary-like notes. The recommended edition Ireland – Changes and Challenges: Short Stories (2013) provides seven short stories of Irish origin dealing with the country’s troubled history, religious and political conflicts, oppression, cultural identity and self-determination.

The short stories offer political, historical and ethical topics and might serve as a starting point for an interdisciplinary teaching project with the subjects of History, Politics, Ethics and Social Science.

Short fiction · Ireland · 1984