Diese Masterarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der thematischen Analyse von der Sammlung von Erzählungen A Bit on the Side (2004) des irischen SchriftstellersWilliam Trevor. Obwohl Trevors Sammlung als eins der besten Bücher des Jahres 2004 ausgezeichnet wurde, gab ii es seitdem kaum kritische Anerkennung. Deswegen ist das Ziel dieser Arbeit kritisches Bewusstsein für die Sammlung zu schärfen. Die Arbeit gliedert sich in vier Teile. Der erste Teil widmet sich der terminologischen Klärung und Geschichte der irischen Erzählungen. Dann werden technische Aspekte der Narratologie sowie der Stil des Schreibens analysiert. Im vierten Teil werden die wichtigsten Themen und Motive der Kollektion diskutiert wie Einsamkeit, Liebe und Ehebruch, Leiden, schwieriges Leben, Misserfolg, und Auswanderung.

William Trevor is arguably one of the best short stories writers in contemporary Irish literature. However, he is paradoxically also one of the most underrated authors of his time. A Bit on the Side, a collection of twelve short stories published in 2004, has been named one of the best books of its year. However, since then there has been hardly any critical response to this brilliant collection. This thesis aims at providing a critical assessment of the individual narratives and William Trevor's gorgeous writing skills. In particular, the thesis will focus on the major themes addressed in the twelve short stories: melancholy, unrequited love, difficult lives, tenderness in old married couples, misery, suffering and solitude in provincial Ireland. Although all these topics inevitably reflect also aspects of Irishness, Trevor does not easily fall into any classification, and this is probably the reason why his fiction has often been neglected by critics. Some scholars have even accused him of writing about an imaginary Ireland. The analysis of A Bit on the Side undertaken in this thesis will try to revise received critical opinion and demonstrate that Trevor's characters are often entrapped between tradition and modern urban life in Ireland and that these stories also address up-to-date themes such as adoption or online dating. Thus it will be shown that Trevor is not one of those nostalgic writers who only write about the past, but that he has remained very sensitive about the ongoing changes in Irish life and Irish society up to the 21st century.