Irish Republican Literature 1968-1998: “Standing on the Threshold of Another Trembling World”

IRISH REPUBLICAN LITERATURE 1968-1998: “STANDING ON THE THRESHOLD OF ANOTHER TREMBLING WORLD” DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By David F. Fanning, M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2003 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Morris Beja, Adviser Professor Barbara Rigney _______________________ Adviser Professor Sebastian Knowles English Graduate Program Copyright by David F. Fanning 2003 ABSTRACT Since the late 1960s, Ireland has seen an intense struggle for national self- determination waged on its own soil. This struggle is an extension of a centuries-long fight to free Ireland from British rule and establish an Irish Republic comprising the entirety of the island. This project examines the literary productions of Irish Republicans and analyzes the ways in which this literature interrogates notions of history and negotiates power within continually shifting conceptions of nationalism. It is impossible to understand Ireland without understanding the Anglo-Irish conflict and how it has been examined and critiqued by Irish writers. As such, it is irresponsible and scholastically suspect if scholars ignore the material emanating from what have quite literally been the front lines of that conflict. A preoccupation with questions of identity and belonging typifies much Irish writing. By examining Irish Republican texts written between the resumption of armed conflict in the north of Ireland in 1968 and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, I show that the discursive complexities of the national situation are mirrored and in some cases anticipated by Irish Republican writing in ways which can shed light on Irish culture in general. I demonstrate that it is a mistake to view nationalism as modular and unchanging; indeed, I show that conceptions of nationalism in Ireland have developed and changed in complex ways in recent years. The present project attempts to place the literature produced by members of the Irish Republican movement within the context of Irish history as well as within the history of Irish ii literature, demonstrating Irish Republican literature’s important place in discussions of the interplay between history and expression and between writing and warfare. My first chapter is an overview of modern Irish literary history with a focus on the development of nationalist thought. It establishes the crucial role played by nationalist discourses in the formation of Irish literature and draws connections between this literature and the concerns of literary and critical theory. The chapters which follow examine specific modes and trends of Republican discourse. Chapter 2 argues that Republican autobiographies subvert autobiographical conventions by shifting the focus of the text from the author to the community, with the text becoming a critique of national and historiographical ideologies. The third chapter focuses on the writings of Irish Republican prisoners from the advent of internment without trial in 1971 to the hunger strikes of 1981, and argues that the literature of this second battlefield reads as a condensed history of Irish literature as a whole, with all its themes of exile, loss and perseverance. The final chapter demonstrates that Irish Republican writing often blurs the distinction between the material and the imaginary by addressing the political issues facing nationalist communities in the years following the hunger strikes. Together, the chapters trace the evolution and development of an area of Irish literary history which has too often been ignored. iii Dedicated to Maria iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The topic of my dissertation is unusual for doctoral students in English, and it took the trust and help of many people to gain access to some of the information included herein. From the Republican movement, I’d like to thank Francie Broderick, Joe Cahill, Toni and Peter Carragher, Noel Cassidy, Pat Doherty, Seán Fay, Gina Herold, Richard Johnson, Bobby Laverty, Micheál Mac Giolla Ghunna, the late Seán MacStiofáin, Gerry McGeough, the late John McGuffin, the late Jack McKinney, Danny Morrison, Matt Morrison, Tarlac Ó Conghalaigh, Seán Oilibhéar and Chris Ward. In addition to these individuals, I’d also like to extend my thanks to the leadership and volunteers of Sinn Féin and the Irish Northern Aid Committee. I also deeply appreciate the trust given me by the men and women of the Irish Republican Army. My greatest thanks go to the people of the north of Ireland who were so generous with their time and energy and without whom this project would never have been completed. On the academic side of things, my greatest thanks go to my advisor Murray Beja, whose encouragement and interest were always there and always (if at times silently) appreciated. I also thank Chad Allen, Vincent Cheng, Walter (Mac) Davis, Leigh v Gilmore, Wayne Hall, Noel Ignatiev, Ellen Carol Jones, Sebastian Knowles, Seamus Metress, Barbara Rigney and Robert White. vi VITA August 13, 1971.........................................................................Born — Cincinnati, Ohio 1994.......................................................................B.A. English, University of Cincinnati 1994-2000................................. Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University 1996...................................................................M.A. English, The Ohio State University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract...........................................................................................................................ii Dedication......................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments........................................................................................................... v Vita...............................................................................................................................vii Note on Terminology .....................................................................................................ix Chapters: 1. Introduction: Mise Éire — Irish Republicanism and Literature to 1968................ 1 2. Irish Republican Autobiography: Power, Community, History........................... 51 3. Irish Republican Prison Culture from Internment to Hunger Strike .................... 99 4. “Until that certain day”: Irish Republican Writing Since the Hunger Strikes .... 158 Afterword.................................................................................................................... 223 Endnotes ..................................................................................................................... 227 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 235 Glossary ...................................................................................................................... 246 viii NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY The terminology used to describe the national and political situation in Ireland is largely a matter of calling a spade a shovel. Often, clues to a speaker’s political background can be found in the very words she or he uses to discuss the island and the powers and factions which exist within it. First, there is the problem of the nomenclature to be employed when referring to the land itself. Politically, the island of Ireland is divided into two states known as the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Republic is also referred to by some as the Saorstat, or Free State. “The South” is often used in reference to the Republic, as is, less frequently, “Southern Ireland.” The Northern Ireland state is referred to variously as “Ulster,” and simply, “the North.” There are problems with all of these names, as Irish Republicans are quick to point out. For Republicans, “the Republic” is a misnomer, since the goal of both the original Republicans and their modern day equivalents is the establishment of a sovereign, all- island state, and this sovereignty is obviously denied in reality; since a Republic cannot be anything less than a united sovereign state, using the term “Republic” to refer to the truncated twenty-six county state is seen as inaccurate. Likewise, the term Saorstat is generally only used by Republicans to refer to the Republic in a sarcastic manner, though it is used by others without negative connotations, when used at all. As far as variations ix on “North” and “South” go, the fact that the northernmost part of Ireland, County Donegal, is, using this logic, in the south of Ireland, defeats any real purpose these terms may serve: that said, they are used so frequently that their acceptance as shorthand is general. “Ulster” is frequently used by English politicians and the media, as well as by Loyalists and unionists, to describe the six-county state; this, too, is inaccurate, as the term “Ulster” refers to the ancient kingdom of Ulster (in Irish Ulaid), which comprised what are now nine counties (the six occupied counties, plus Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan). Republicans, then, refer to what is known as the Republic of Ireland as “the twenty-six counties” and what is known as Northern Ireland as “the six counties.” I will follow this practice with a few exceptions. It should be noted that some people use the term Éire, the Irish Gaelic word for “Ireland.” This is normally only used when speaking in

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