Cultural Identity in Contemporary Scottish and Irish Writing. Phd Thesis

Jackson, Ellen-Raïssa (1999) Cultural identity in contemporary Scottish and Irish writing. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2548/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] CULTURAL IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY SCOTTISH AND IRISH WRITING Ellen-Raissa Jackson Doctor of Philosophy UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE JANUARY 1999 Abstract This thesis looks at examples of contemporary Scottish and Irish writing using postcolonialism as a theoretical framework through which to illuminate their shared literary arguments, strategies and preoccupations. Through close readings, the comparative cultural critique of these two neighbouring nations addresses their marginal position in relation to a dominant English culture and their analogous position to other small, marginalised nations. This approach questions the tendency of postcolonial theory to subsume non-English cultural formations within the body of English Literature, rather than looking at countries with colonial histories within Europe. The thesis goes on to challenge the dominance of the novel in postcolonial critique by offering readings of other cultural modes as effective and influential forms of resistance. The six chapters address issues around language, identity, and gender in close comparative readings of drama, novels, short fiction and film. Chapter One offers an introduction to key issues, debates and themes. Chapter Two considers the dynamic of history and representation in plays by Lochhead, Friel and McGuinness, raising issues of authority and identity which are then developed in terms of voice and violence in novels by Kelman and Doyle. Issues of marginalisation within postcolonial culture and the basis of a radical hybridity are explored in Chapter Four, drawing in particular on the continuing use of gendered metaphors of oppression and repression. Chapter Five argues that short fIction can provide an exemplary site of postcolonial resistance. Finally, Chapter Six engages with recent cinema which highlights the similarities and disjunctions between the cultural products of the two nations, as well as confirming the strengths and weaknesses of postcolonial theory in Scottish and Irish contexts. Acknowledgements I am very grateful for the personal support and intellectual inspiration I have received from various friends and colleagues. I particularly wish to thank my supervisor, Willy Maley, for the generous gifts of his time, references and ideas. I would not have come to Glasgow had it not been for the inspiration ofVassiliki Kolocotroni, and the members of staff in the Department of English Literature who offered endless advice and assistance, notably Richard Cronin, Susan Anthony and Pat Devlin. Thanks are also due to Marilyn Reizbaum and Lynda Jackson for reading early drafts of Chapters Two and Five, as well as to Marjorie Howes and Gerry Carruthers, who kindly gave me permission to cite unpublished work. Many thanks go to everyone on the Women on Ireland Network for offering suggestions on and challenges to work-in-progress. I would also like to thank Colin Graham for inviting me to a give a paper at the CCUE conference in Loughborough, which later became Chapter Four, as well as Eamonn Hughes, whose assistance allowed me to travel to Belfast for valuable research. I am grateful for the help and patience of staff at Glasgow University Library, The Mitchell Library, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh University Library and Magee College Library. Heartfelt thanks go to Frank McGuinness for his inspiration and insight. Finally, without the moral and financial support ofTilli Edelman and Ronan Duffy, this work would not have been possible - I will always be grateful for their constant care and encouragement. 2 Contents Critical Preface 4 Chapter One: Introduction 12 Postcolonial Nations: History, Culture, Identity Chapter Two 59 Making Herstory: The Drama of the Nation Chapter Three 100 Voice, Violence and Validity: Controlling Narrative in the Novel Chapter Four 140 Composite Culture: Locating Identity in the Novel Chapter Five 181 Between Two Shores: Placing Short Fiction Chapter Six 230 Other Ways of Telling: Film Conclusion 266 Bibliography 273 3 Critical Preface Why read Scottish and Irish writing together? It might seem strange that two cultures in which writers have made considerable efforts to assert their distinctiveness, particularly from England and English literature, can be illuminated through comparative readings. However, the purpose of this thesis is not merely to draw attention to the similarities and differences between Irish and Scottish writing, but rather to explore alternate forms of reading that acknowledge their shared literary arguments, strategies and preoccupations. The historical dominance of England and the English language in both countries has produced a form of cultural identity which can be defined by its relationship to England as the metropolitan centre. English literature has come to be associated with Literature proper, a 'norm' from which both Irish and Scottish writing deviate. In particular the use ofHiberno-English (to use Tom Paulin's phrase) and Scots, not simply as dialogue, but as a medium for conveying description, narrative and abstract thought, tends to mark a piece of writing as of regional or local, rather than of universal interest, and thus not eligible for the category of 'Literature' at all. In order to understand how the values of Englishness and English literature have come to be seen as 'universal' we require an analysis of 'British' history and in particular the history of British imperialism in the last century. The concept of Empire is crucial to any reading of Scottish and Irish cultures, despite the many differences between their experiences of colonial and British rule. Empire not only plays a major role in the construction of Anglo-British and Hiberno-British identity, it also provides the context 4 for an ongoing history of interconnection between Scotland and Ireland through plantation, immigration and emigration. Finally, in a literary context, the implicit comparisons between the Irish Literary Revival spearheaded by Yeats, and the Scottish Literary Revival led by MacDiarmid, should be made more explicit in order to recognise how this has coloured the interpretation of the development of both literatures ever since. This is particularly significant when reading contemporary Scottish writing, currently being marketed as the fashionable successor to Irish writing. Thus Cosmopolitan magazine was able to shape Irish/Scottish literary relations as a dialogue in which the writer Duncan McLean is described as 'Scotland's answer to Roddy Doyle'.1 The competitive framework in which the cultural products of Scotland and Ireland are marketed does little to counter the idea of English Literature as the locus of literary value, yet it does present the possibility of reading Scottish and Irish writing against and across one another and thus of overcoming the stagnant and largely predictable readings which result from the binary oppositions Scotland-England and England-Ireland. Cultural identity is an important feature in any writing that is self-consciously 'national', and so readily identifiable as Scottish or Welsh for example. However, the tenn cultural identity is not limited to nationality or nationalism, but can be seen as the sum of a number of identities that operate in a specific culture. Cultural identity in this sense has significance in relation to communities as well as individuals; it enables the consideration of racism, sexism and sectarianism not simply as the products of personal prejudice, but as effects of social and political structures. 5 The examination of cultural identity through images and texts requires a theoretical framework suited to the close readings of individual representations as well as one sensitive to the wider political and social contexts in which such material is produced. The current approach that lends itself most readily to these demands and which can also provide a framework of comparison between Scottish and Irish writing is postcolonial theory. The last decade has seen the rapid growth and acceptance of postcolonial theory in the academy, but this has been accompanied by continued debate, both among postcolonial practitioners and those committed to different theoretical standpoints, about the nature and scope of the term 'postcolonial'. Irish writing has generally been accepted into the body of postcolonial writing, largely through the work of theorists such as David Lloyd and Luke Gibbons, as well through polemical projects such as Field Day. However, whilst many non-Irish thinkers are happy to consider Ireland as 'postcolonial' the response from within Ireland itself has been mixed. In particular, writers and academics from Northern Ireland have suggested that the postcolonial label assumes a homogenised Ireland which makes no distinction between

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