6533b852fe1ef96bd12aab5d

RESEARCH PRODUCT

‘George Mitchell’s Peace’: The Good Friday Agreement in Colum McCann’s Novel TransAtlantic

subject

description

The impact of the different parties and individuals involved in constructing the Good Friday Agreement has been much discussed. This chapter scrutinizes the role of the American negotiator George Mitchell, as it is presented in Colum McCann’s novel TransAtlantic (2013). It places McCann’s novelistic depiction of Mitchell’s role in the context of both Mitchell’s own autobiographical writings and other external political assessments. Mitchell’s domestic life—including his experience of fatherhood—is shown to play a crucial role in the fictional treatment of the negotiations. McCann’s own position as an Irish-American author with a globalistic bent is taken into account, as is the way in which TransAtlantic implicitly points towards parallels between the arts of negotiation and storytelling. Ultimately, McCann’s novel argues that peace can only come about through an inclusive understanding of how narratives shape our understanding of history and facilitate future communities.