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Belfast: the Far from Sublime City in Brian Moore's Early Novels

Eamon Maher Technological University Dublin, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Maher, E. (2001). Belfast: the far from sublime city in Brian Moore's early novels. Studies: an Irish quarterly review, vol.90, no. 360 (Winter 2001), p. 422-431.

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Belfast: The Far from Sublime City in Brian Moore's Early Novels Author(s): Eamon Maher Source: Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 90, No. 360 (Winter, 2001), pp. 422-431 Published by: Irish Province of the Society of Jesus Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30095508 . Accessed: 17/02/2014 04:43

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This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "Belfast:The far from Sublime City in Brian Moore's early novels"

"BELFAST: THE FAR FROM SUBLIME CITY IN BRIAN MOORE'S EARLY NOVELS." Ea600 Maher Thecity has beena sourceof inspirationfor many writers. Joyce's depictions of Dublinhave promptedmuch cultural tourism in ourcapital as the annual Bloomsdaycelebrations will attestto. New York,Paris, London, Madrid have all been describedboth positivelyand negativelyin numerousworks of fiction.Belfast has inevitablyhad her bards, few probablybetter known than the novelistBrian Moore (1921-1999), who wrote several novels set in places as far afieldas Canada,the US, France,South America and North Africa. It seemsto me, however,that most of Moore'sbest fictionwas set in Belfast. His views on the city havebeen well-documented in his radioand television interviews,where he commentson its repressive,sectarian nature, its resistanceto change,its immutability.He was born and rearedin Clifton Street,directly opposite the OrangeHall, and he thushad an excellent view of the statueof King Billy on his whitehorse, a symbolof the originsof the religiousconflict that has longbedeviled the history of this island.Moore, the nephewof Eoin McNeill,one of the foundersof the GaelicLeague and the manwho signedthe countermandingorder for the 1916 Rebellion,was part of an extremelyCatholic nationalisticfamily. By his own admission, however,he `lackedthe religioussense', and thus always felt uncomfortable in a city wherepeople take their religious allegiance so seriously.He hated the educationhe receivedat St. Malachy's,the diocesanschool where you were canedfor the slightestmisdemeanour, and he soon discoveredthat he hadno interestin becominga doctor,like his fatherand brothers before him. He achedto escapefrom Belfast and the SecondWorld War provided him withthe opportunity.He joined the British Ministry of WarTransport and his workbrought him to NorthAfrica, France and Italy. When he subsequently joinedthe UnitedNations, he was sent to Polandwhere his infatuationwith an olderlady promptedhim to headto Canada.He workedfor a few years with the 600treal Gazette.Then, afterthe break-upof his first marriage, Mooresettled in Californiawith his secondwife, Jean,and he spentthe rest of his life there. I mentionthese few biographicalfacts to illustratehow Moore visited and lived in manyplaces around the world.He was exposedto severalcultures andexperiences after he left Belfastaged 21. So he couldnot be describedas parochialin any senseof the term.He returnedregularly to Belfastto see his motherbut each time he visitedhis firstthoughts were how quicklyhe could leave again withoutinsulting his family. Belfast, a city he loathed,was neverthelessthe place wherehe decidedto situatehis earlyfiction. I will attemptto illustratehow the city's landscapeand architecture,its sights, 422

This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Studies Volume 90 Number360 soundsand smells were imbedded in theauthor's consciousness. Moore liked to quotethe Frenchwriter and Nobel Prizewinner, Francois Mauriac, who saidthat for the novelist the doorcloses at twenty,by whichhe meantthat the eventsof the firsttwenty years of life formthe basisof our futureconcerns and preoccupations.Belfast was whereMoore's artistictemperament was moulded even though, in `:..hewalked in a dull orderto nurturehis vocation,he was impelledto citywhere men made leave the city. In a passagefrom `The Expatriate 600ey theway Writer'Moore describes a departurefrom Belfast. charwomenwash Having boarded the ferry, which marks the f oors,dully, alone, at a slowmethodical embarkingon a new existence, the young " emigrantstrikes up a conversationwith a man pace who asks him what are his reasonsfor leaving Ireland: I'm leavinghome because I don'twant to be a doctorlike myfather andbrothers. Because I wantto be a writer.I wantto write...Perhaps that'sthe way a lot ofpeople becomewriters. They don't like the role they'replaying and writing seems a betterone.' In reallife, Mooredid not realiseat the timewhat the futureheld in storefor him.He hadno inklingthat he wouldend up as a writer.What he did know was thathe was suffocatingin Belfastand that he wantedto contributeto the war effort on the Allies' side. There was a sense in which the artistic temperamentwas suspectin the city he was leaving.Were he to havestayed, he wouldhave run the risk of slippinginto the same Catholicghetto that ensnaressome of his characters.Belfast may be the inspirationof most of Moore'sbest writingbut he could neverhave writtenabout it so forcibly, sometimesso cruelly,had he not left it. Therecan be no doubtthat the door closedfor him, as forMauriac, at twenty. TheLonely Passion of JudithHearne (1955 is a remarkablefirst novel. Mooreadmitted how conscioushe was of Joycewhen he beganto writethis book: I wantedto about own loss butdid not wishto risk *rite my offaith, adversecomparisons with him (Joyce by describingthe loss offaith in a youngIrishman... I decidedto writenot aboutan intellectual's loss but the loss in someonedevout, the sort offaith of of faith 2 of womanmy mother would have known, a `sodalitylady' Thechoice of heroinewas inspirational.Judith is thevictim of a domineering auntwho demandsthat she sacrificeher futureto carefor herwhen the old lady becomesan invalid.After the aunt'sdeath, Judith has lost whatever youthfulnessand charm she oncepossessed and, in addition,is in a precarious financialposition. The opening pages of thenovel see Judithmoving into new digs. She is a womanimbued with muchof the snobberyof her class and, 423

This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "Belfast:The far from Sublime City in Brian Moore 's early novels" althoughshe doesn'tpossess much in termsof materialpossessions, she is acutelyaware of being somehowsuperior to her landladyand the other tenantsof the lodginghouse: Thestreet outsidewas a universitybywater, once a good residential area, whichhad lately beenreduced to the level of takingin paying guests.Miss Hearne stared at the housesopposite and thoughtof her aunt'sday when there were only private families in thisstreet, at least one maid to everyhouse, and dinnerwas at night,not at noon.All gone now and all thosepeople deadand all thehouses partitioned off intoflats 3. The settingclearly doesn't appeal to Judith.In her mind,it's just another exampleof how the city is faIlinginto social and moral decay. She is awareof the fact that she doesn'treally belong in Belfast,or anywhereelse for that matter.She is partof a worldand class that have all butdisappeared. This is why her prize possessionsare her aunt'spicture and the oleographof the SacredHeart, which she carefullyhangs up eachtime she movesdigs. These are the remindersof whatshe holdsmost dear:her familyand her religion. But neither gives her much comfort. She is desperateto experience companionship,love, adventureand is excitedby herfirst encounter with the brotherof her landlady,Mr. Madden,recently returned from the United States.She says to him:"I'm sure you findBelfast dull, after New York.My goodness,after all that excitement.It's so up-to-dateand everything,New York,I mean."(p.28). Maddendoes indeedfind Belfastdull. Whenwalking through the damp streetsof the Ulstercapital, he remembershow the Big Applehums with the businessof makingmillions. He thinks of the shows on Broadway,the wisecracksyou hear on the streetsand finds the contrastwith his present surroundsunbearable: Whilehe walkedin a dull city where men made 600ey the way charwomenwash floors, dully,alone, at a slow methodicalpace. In BelfastLough the shipyards were filled withthe clangand hammer of construction,but no soundwas heardin thestreets. At thedocks ships unloadedand loadedcargoes, but they were small ships, hidden from sight behindsmall sheds. In Smithfieldmarket, vendors lounged at theirstalls and buyerspicked aimlessly at faded merchandise.In the city's shops housewivescounted pennies againstpurchase. In the city's banks,no great IBMmachines clattered. Instead, clerkly men wrotesmall sums in long blackledgers. (p.46

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This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Studies Volume 90 Number360 Small-mindedacquisitive inhabitants,buildings and ships that appear minusculecompared to whatone findsin New York,the returnedemigrant cannotavoid noticing the cleardifferences between the two cities.The reader is left to ponderwho exactly is describingthe scene above. Maddenis incapableof this type of insightand so the voice must be that of the author.The housewives "TheProtestant counting"pennies against purchase" remind one dearthofgaiety, the of the Dublinmerchant class describedby Yeats, Protestantsurfeit of adding the "ha'penceto the pence" in their order,the dour Ulster "greasytills". The noise emanatingfrom the burgherswalking contrasts withthe silenceof the proudlya600g these shipyards starkly 600umentsto their streets. There is an eerie atmospherein the mediocrity': northerncapital. When Moore evokes Belfast,it is nearlyalways in thesenegative terms. The cold, blackbuildings, the soberarchitecture, the quietorderliness of the sceneshe sketches portraysomething of the enclosed, puritanicalnature of the inhabitants: The newsvendorscalling out the great eventsof the world in flat,at, uninterestedUlster voices; the drabfacades of the buildingsgrouped aroundthe Square, proclaiming the virtues of trade,hard dealing and Presbyterianrighteousness. The order, the neatness, the floodlit cenotaph,a white respectablephallus planted in sinkingIrish bog. TheProtestant dearth of gaiety, the Protestantsurfeit of order,the dour Ulster burgherswalking proudly a600g these 600umentsto theirmediocrity (p.103). Belfast residentsare the productsof their physicalenvironment: harsh, uncompromising,fond of theirshillings. The Catholics feel as thoughthey are trappedin a sectariansociety where they always come out secondbest. They are very much the outsidersin this Protestant-dominatedcity. But their marginalisationdoes not lead them to closer union with their fellow Catholics.The misunderstandingand incomprehension of one's neighbouris not merelysectarian in nature.Catholics are as suspiciousand insensitive towardsone anotheras theyare to theirProtestant neighbour's. Madden, with whomJudith falls in love, is a sexualdeviant who remorselesslyrapes the youngmaid in his sister'shouse. He is attractedto Judithbecause he believes her to have 600ey and he quicklydrops her whenhe discoversthat she is moreimpoverished than himself. Bernard Rice, the son of the landlady,asks Judith:"Why are you alone tonight,if it isn't for your silly religious scruples?"and adds: "Your God is onlya pictureon thewall. He doesn'tgive a damnabout you." (p.183 Thereis no escapefor Judith in a cityas cold and uncompromisingas its buildings.Fr. Quigley,to whomshe turnsfor help, is impatientlest he be late for his golf appointmentand tells her that her problemsare not thatserious. The O'Neillfamily, on whomJudith inflicts a 425

This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "Belfast:The far from Sublime City in Brian Moore's early novels" visit everySunday, has no affectionfor her and endures her presence out of a senseof religiousduty. Bereft of love, condemnedto a life of solitude,Judith, in desperation,turns to the bottle, in the hope of finding"the key to contentment".She drinksto flee fromoppressive reality, in orderto viewher trialsmore philosophically. On the vergeof a nervousbreakdown, she asks forGod's help: Whatis to becomeof me, 0 Lord,alone in this city,with only drink hatefuldrink, that dullsme, lonelydrink that leaves me morelonely, moredespised Whythis cross Give me another,great pain, great illness,anything, but let therebe someone,someone to share it. Why do you tortureme, alone and silent behindYour little door Why (pp.239-40 No responsecomes from the tabernacle.No one repliesto her cry for help. Whenshe loses her faith,Judith's world comes crashing down around her. The Protestanttaxi driverwho chauffeursher aroundthe city, is surprised whenshe asks him to stop at a church:"These bloody Papishes, you never knew what they were up to. `It's a long time on the meter',he warned". (p.238 Fr. Quigley is embarrassedthat a Protestantshould witness the strangeantics of one of his parishionersbut is as bemusedat Judith's behaviouras is the driver.The novel is atmosphericand the imageof the city as a claustrophobicforce is smothering. LauraPelaschiar, in an insightfulexamination of how the role of Belfast hasevolved in NorthernIrish Fiction, notes that the capitalcity was portrayed by writerslike Mooreas hometo alienation,confusion and violence. In the writingsof the new generationof noveliststhat came on the scene in the nineteeneighties and nineties, however, a muchmore positive image of the city emerged,particularly a600g Protestantwriters like GlennPatterson (Fat Lad, London:Minerva, 1992). Pelaschiardescribes The Lonely Passion of JudithHearne as `thefirst proper, modem description of Belfast'and adds: "LikeDublin for Joyce,Belfast is for Moorethe centreof paralysis,a sad, bleak,boring, passionless, unattractive place wherenarrow-mindedness and mediocritythrive undisturbed."4 The portrayaldoesn't improvein subsequentnovels either.Moore's secondnovel, TheFeast of the Lupercal(1958), conveysan equallyblack pictureof Belfastand its inhabitants.This time the focusis anEnglish teacher in the CatholicBelfast school, Ardath, a thinlydisguised representation of St. Malachy's.Devine is anothersolitary figure living in a hostileworld. Hidden fromview one dayin the toilets,he hearsone of his colleaguesrefer to himas being `an old maid'. Hurt at having himself described in this uncomplimentarylight, he begins to see that the picturepainted is not altogetherfalse. Thirty-sevenyears of age, a bachelor,his only obvious attributesare his capacityto anticipateexamination questions for his students

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This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Studies Volume 90 Number360 and to organisethe local dramagroup. He decidesto attemptto be more daring,especially when it comesto his relationswith the fairersex. Whenhis colleague,Tim Heron,invites him to his houseto markthe occasionof his daughter'sengagement, Devine encountersHeron's niece, Una. On discoveringthat she is a Protestantfrom Dublin, Devine's reaction betrays the stereotypical "LikeDublin for Joyce, reactionof his caste: Belfastis for Moorethe centre a sad, Protestants ofparalysis, were the hostile Establishment, bleak,boring, passionless, leaders with Scots and Englishsurnames, unattractiveplace where hard, blunt businessmenwho asked what narrow-mindednessand school you went to and, on hearingyour mediocritythrive answer, refused the job... To them, undisturbed'. (L. Catholicswere a hatedminority, a minority Pelaschiar). whothreatened their rule 5. We areback to the bigotryalready displayed in the descriptionof Protestants in JudithHearne. What is mostimportant to Devinein thisinstance, given his desireto broadenhis sexualhorizons, is his beliefthat Protestant girls were fast.6As if to reinforcethis theory, Devine discovers that Una has been forced to leave Dublinbecause she was havingan affairwith a marriedman. Like the tragic hero about whom he must have spoken many times in his Shakespeareanclasses, Devinecannot help fallingin love withthis woman fromwhom he is separatedby religionand culture. Sure enough, obstacles to his love pile up beforehim. His positionas a teacherin the diocesanschool wouldnormally preclude him fromeven contemplatinga relationship with a Protestant.But, irrationalwith passion, he allowsthe relationshipto develop until finallyhe is presentedwith the situationtowards which he has been manoeuvring. Afterattending a dancein the city,Una suggests that she accompanyhim to his digs. After some awkwardkissing and fumblingon the floor of his living room, Una proposesthat they might be more comfortablein the bedroom.Shocked by the prospectof actuallyhaving sexual intercourse, and also probablyunconsciously aware of his Catholicupbringing, Devine is unableto go throughwith it. Una,hurt by the shockand fear on his facewhen he saw hernaked body, misinterprets his reactionand sees it as a demeaning rejection.Upset and confused, in additionto havingdrunk too much,she falls asleepin the flat.Devine does not dareto wakeher and she is caughtentering her uncle's house the followingmorning. The worstis suspectedand Tim Heroncanes his colleaguein full view of the priestslooking out over the school grounds.Both are sum600ed to the President'soffice to explain themselves.Dr. Keogh, one of the few positiveportrayals of a priest in Moore'sfiction, ac300ts Devine's explanation of whathappened and allows him to remainin his job. Whatemerges from the wholeepisode is a rather

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This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions " "Belfast The far from Sublime City in Brian Moore's early novels sordiddepiction of whatCatholicism can do to peoplein a city like Belfast. Whencontemplating his travails,Devine notes: If I had been a Protestant,this would never have happened,he thought.1 wouldhave'had my fill of girls by now.I wouldnever had hadto to Belfastmay be the go confession(p.212). inspirationof mostof Earlierin the novel, Moore paints a telling Moore'sbest writing, but pictureof the neighbourhoodwhere Tim Heron hadhe notleft he could lived which is revealingof how events will neverhave written about it unfoldin the laterpart of thenovel: soforcibly. He mighthave slippedinto the same It was a street of small, red brickhouses, Catholicghetto that their bay windowsthrust out to repel the ensnaressome of his stranger;a street whose backyardlaundry characters. offered an intimate census of the inhabitants.Children, now in bed, hadfought all day long up and downits pavements, laying waste the tinyfront gardens with the litter of their presence; chalked walls, overturnedtricycles, sagging, abandonedprams. It was quietnow: theyells, the shoutedrefusals, the adultbicker done. Here, people went to bed early,rose early,and hada tiringday (p.20). This is the CatholicBelfast in whichDevine has been reared and which has madehim intothe feeble,indecisive adult who doesnot knowwhat he wants andwho is alwaysafraid of offendingpeople. Others use himshamelessly to directplays for whichhe gets scantacknowledgement and no remuneration. His fate is sealed frombirth. He is at one andthe sametime the `stranger' whomthe city repelsand a personwho is sensitiveto its heartbeat. Had he followedthe patternof goingto bedearly, rising early and having a tiringday he wouldnot havesuffered all the discomfortthat comes his way. The Emperorof Ice-Cream(1965 presentsus with anothermisfit, this time in the form of GavinBurke, who is as close to an autobiographical depictionas you'llcome across in Moore'snovels. Gavin is notacademic like his olderbrother, Owen, and doesn't secure sufficiently good results in his A Levelsto advanceto Queen'sUniversity. He realizesthat he doesn'treally wantto conformto his family'shopes for his future.He thusjoins the ARP (AirRaid Precautions Unit), as Moorehimself did, much to the disgustof his father,who is a virulentopponent of Churchilland King George. Redundant for 600ths on end as a resultof the Germans'indifference to Belfast,Gavin is subjectedto the ridiculeof his familyand friends.He is indeedpart of a motley group of men and women who don't fit into the normalsocial categories,but he sees this as an appropriateplace to find himself:"The worldof misfits,the ARP world,was a worldone couldenter only if one belongedthere."7 But eventsunfold in a mostunexpected way at timesand

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This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Studies Volume 90 Number360 the Germanwar-planes do eventuallymake it to Belfastto releasetheir bombson an unsuspectingand disbelieving population. Moore describes the nightvery vividly, as one mightexpect, given his personalexperience of that horrificevent. From being a lasciviouscoward, concerned mainly with how he could breakdown the stubbornpiety of his girlfriend,Sally, Gavin attains almost heroic Thereis thedour proportions.Instead of fear,his feelingis one of Sabbatarianismof elation:"Tonight, history had conferred the drama themajority imposed - of war on this dull, dead town in whichhe was fromoutside and born."(The Emperor, p.202 theparanoia of the Gavin's father, like Moore's own, is minoritywithin their own eventuallyshown the true side of war, where community. neitherside has the moralhigh ground and where atrocitiesabound. Many Belfast Catholics,formerly sympathetic to Hitler, changedsides completely after the BelfastBlitz. There was a strangeunity of purposea600g the populationin the immediateaftermath of this event of April 1941 in whichalmost 900 peoplewere killed. Moore himself became determinedto contributeto the War effort of the Allies side, as already mentioned.Unlike JuditheHearne and Devine,Gavin Burke attains some heroicstature and self-confidence with regard to his futurepath. He doesnot join in the prayersthat are being said aroundhim by peopleall too readyto becomepious when their lives are in danger.Instead, he standsapart and determinesto followan independentpath: Thereand then,in the droneof thepriest's `butdeliver us from evil he vowedto deliverhimself from the shamof churchattendance, of pretending belief for his parents' sake, of the pretences and compromiseswhich had helped keep him becalmedin indecision betweenadolescence and adult life. Tonight,he felt, at last thathe hadgrown up, escaped... (p.226). This is the firsttime that a Moorecharacter who is bornand bred in Belfast managesto shed the shacklesof religiousoppression. Normally Belfast envelops its inhabitantswith its negativityand religiousprejudice. The presentationof the city variesfrom novel to novel.In TheLonely Passion of JudithHearne there are moredescriptions of the physicalenvironment: the citythus becomes a characterin its ownright. The Feast of theLupercal deals morewith generalsocietal issues whereas The Lonely Passion concentrates largelyon the dilemmaof the maincharacter. Devine, in spite of his many weaknesses, neverthelesshas financial independenceand professional qualifications.He commandsa certainrespect and control in the classroomas well as in the dramagroup. That said, both he andJudith are the victimsof theirclass andenvironment. They are controlled by theirCatholic beliefs and the closedsociety in whichthey live. Theyhave the worst of bothworlds: the paranoiaof the minoritywithin their own communityand the dour 429

This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "Belfast:The far from Sublime City in Brian Moore's early novels" Sabbatarianismof the majorityimposed from the outside.The Emperor of Ice-Creamis a type of bildungromanwhere the mainprotagonist advances downthe pathof self-knowledgetowards independence and maturity. History conspiresto give GavinBurke's life some meaningand justification. All in all, however,a dismalatmosphere permeates the earlyBelfast novels. Living in a type of Catholicghetto ensures that thereis no escape for Judithor Devine,and very little liberation for GavinBurke. They are trapped in a city whereyou are classifiedin termsof yourreligious beliefs. Mixing with the perceivedenemy, Protestants, as Devinediscovers to his cost,will bring,not happinessand liberation,but confusionand shame.Burke is amazedto discoverthat there are people living in Belfastwho arenot plagued by all the religiousbaggage to whichhe is subjected: To,think that people who wrotepoetry, burned joss sticks,and built puppettheatres were livinghere in Belfast,not a mileaway from his own home. Theywere Protestants,naturally. Why was it that no Catholiccould grow up in an interestingatmosphere (The Emperor, pp.98-99 It is not strangethat Moore should have adopted a negativeidea of Belfastas he found living there to be oppressiveand limitingin termsof personal freedom.If you wereCatholic, you were expectedto be nationalisticand to live accordingto a specificset of moralvalues. The followingquote shows him to be a partof a long line of Irishwriters who choseexile as the only effectivemanner of realisingtheir literary ambitions: For thosewriters born and broughtup withinits shores,Ireland is a harsh literaryjailer. It is a terrainwhose power to captureand dominatethe imaginationmakes its writersforever prisoner -forcing them,no matterhow far theywander in searchof escape,to return again and again in theirwork to thesmall island which remains their trueworld 8. Thereare all sortsof imprisonment.For Moore,the departurefrom Belfast wasmerely geographical in nature.In his mind,the emotionalgrammar of the city was firmly etched and can be seen clearly in the novels we have discussed.Maybe the formativeyears are the periodwhen life is livedso that the humanmind may be formedand crystallised into a re300taclefor future experiencesto be blendedand assessed.Or is this just true of the artistic mentalityThose who readMoore's early fiction are given a tasteof Belfast as onlysomeone who livedin it formany years can provide. In fact,the three novelsdealt with in this shortarticle de600strate many of the tensionsand the prejudicesthat still characterisethe lives of manyin the Ulstercapital at thebeginning of thethird millennium. Ea600 Maherlectures in Humanitiesat the Instituteof TechnologyTallaght

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This content downloaded from 149.157.1.168 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 04:43:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Studies Volume 90 Number360 Notes 1 `The Writer',in The Review,17, 2 Expatriate ,4ntagonish Spring1974, pp.28-29. Quotedby Denis Sampson, Brian Moore: the Chameleon Novelist, Dublin: Marino,1998, p.86. This study by Sampson is a greathelp in understanding Moorethe man and the writer. 3 TheLonely Passion of Judith Hearne, London: Flamingo, 1994, pp.7-8. All my referencesare to thisedition. 4 LauraPelaschiar, "Transforming Belfast: The Evolving Role of theCity in NorthernIrish Fiction", in TheIrish University Review, Vol.30, Number 1, 2000. S Spring/Summer TheFeast the London:Granada 1983, 6 of Lupercal, Publishing, p.35. Thisview of Protestantwomen was not just prevalent inBelfast but was a widely heldview a600g Catholic men all over the island of Ireland.Itprobably still exists 7 today. The Ice-Cream, 1994, 8 Emperorof Flamingo, p.123. Quotedby Denis Sampson, Brian Moore: the Chameleon Novelist, op. cit., p.249.

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