Negotiating Binaries in Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s Selected Stories

Since the publication of ‘Green Fuse’ in The Irish Press in 1974, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne has built up an impressive oeuvre of short fiction. The recent Selected Stories, published by Blackstaff Press in 2023, pays tribute to that achievement. As the collection follows the trajectory of Ní Dhuibhne’s career, with two stories from each of her six collections, it allows one to trace both recurring elements and patterns of development in her work. Ní Dhuibhne’s sustained exploration of women’s lives, dreams and desires, for instance, can be seen to take distinct emphases in each of the collections. This essay argues that binary oppositions are used as structuring models in Ní Dhuibhne’s first four collections – in juxtaposed plotlines, stories and endings as well as contrasting characters, places and times – but, in her later collections, these oppositions move to the more subjective realm of inner reflection and imagination.