ABSTRACT
This study examines selected short stories in Different Kinds of Love through a transcultural perspective and considers Leland Bardwell as a literary mediator who pays attention to various types of connections and transgressions in Irish society. These stories represent liminal characters that challenge the role of social and cultural limits by challenging conventional structures and norms. As Bardwell provides striking portrayals of liminal identities, she highlights individuals on the margins and brings them to the centre of her writing. Lastly, this chapter contends that Bardwell’s short fiction serves as a proto-transcultural critique that probes into the problematic predominance of heteronormativity within public and institutional realms in the Irish context.
