If
The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch(2002) and
The Gathering(2007) express Anne Enright’s wariness of the socio-cultural effects of the excesses of the Celtic Tiger years, her fifth novel,
The Forgotten Waltz, published in 2011, could be said to be her novel of the Crash.
Set in contemporary Dublin, it charts the extra-marital affair of Gina Moynihan and Seán Vallely over the seven years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Recounted retrospectively by Gina, the affair seems as precarious as the post-industrial, service economy of the boom years: very much a matter of self-delusion rather than actual progress and investment. It is appropriate therefore that Gina describes the progress of the affair in parallel with the rise and fall of house prices and at one point even thinks…
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Citation: Schneider, Ana-Karina. "The Forgotten Waltz". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 December 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=33523, accessed 23 November 2024.]
