Masaryk University Brno Rethinking Identities
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MASARYKUNIVERSITYBRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature RETHINKINGIDENTITIES Diplomathesis Brno2007 Writtenby: Supervisor: MichaelaMarková OndřejPilný,PhD Bibliographical description Marková, Michaela. Rethinking identities: diploma thesis. Brno: Masaryk University, Facultyof Education,Department of EnglishLanguage andLiterature,2007.Diploma thesis supervisorOndřejPilný,PhD.pp.65. ANNOTATION This diploma thesis presents an analysis of works by Northern Irish authors, Deirdre Madden and Bernard Mac Laverty, in the context of contemporary Northern Irish fiction.It provides a brief overview of current tendencies inNI writing.It is focusedon works dealing with the Troubles and the 1994 ceasefire, and exemplifies the general tendencies by analysing works of two prominent contemporary Northern Irish prose writers. ANOTACE Diplomová práce se zabývá rozborem děl severoirských autorů, Deirdre Madden a Bernarda Mac Lavertyho, vkontextu současné severoirské prózy, tzn. nastiňuje její současné vývojovétendence.Důrazklade na díla zabývající se problematikouNepokojů a příměří zroku 1994; teoretické poznatky dokládá analýzou děl dvou předních současnýchseveroirskýchprozaiků. KEYWORDS Bloody Friday, Bloody Sunday, Catholics, contemporary Northern Irish literature, identity,IRA,NorthernIreland,Protestants,rethinkingidentities,sectarianviolence,the Troubles. KLÍČOVÁ SLOVA Krvavý pátek, Krvavá neděle, katolíci, současná severoirská literatura, identita, IRA, SeverníIrsko,protestanti,identitavproměnách,sektářskénásilí,Nepokoje. 2 I declare that I workedonmythesis onmyownandthat I usedthe sources mentioned inthe bibliography.I agree with the workbeing kept inthe MasarykUniversitylibrary forthestudy purposes. Brno,27 th April2007. Signature: 3 Acknowledgements: Iwouldlike tothankall thathavehelpedme withtheworkon mydiploma thesis,namelytoOndřej PilnýPhD,forhisvaluableadvicehehadprovidedasmy supervisor. 4 CONTENTS CONTENTS......................................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................6 ANALYSIS.....................................................................................................................10 CONTEMPORARY NORTHERN IRISH FICTION.............................................................................10 RETHINKING IDENTITIES.................................................................................................................15 BERNARD MAC LAVERTY: GRACE NOTES...................................................................................17 DEIRDRE MADDEN: ONE BY ONE IN THE DARKNESS................................................................28 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................46 RESUMÉ ........................................................................................................................49 SOURCES.......................................................................................................................50 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................................50 WEBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................................52 LISTOFAPPENDICES.................................................................................................54 AUTHORS’ PROFILES ........................................................................................................................54 LISTOFSPECIFICREFERENCES..............................................................................57 5 INTRODUCTION The present diploma thesis, entitled Rethinking Identities 1, focuses on contemporaryIrishliterature andits portrayal of the periodof the Troubles inNorthern Ireland 2.ThoughLaura Pelaschiar claims that part of the literarycritics refuse touse the title NorthernIrishliterature for literaryworks producedbyNorthernIrishauthors 3,this thesis is particularlyfocusedonwritings bycontemporaryNI authors andrefers tothese as NorthernIrishliterature. The period of intercommunal violence, the so-called Troubles (1969 – 1998), has left an enormous impact on Irish literary texts and has also forced the writers to questionthe existingnarratives and art itself.Regardless of the gloomy conditions in whichNI writinghas developed,the SixCounties have produceda vast bodyof poetry, drama,aswellas prose. Contemporary Irish novels are stigmatised by an unresolved political and cultural situation.Yet,duringthe past 30years,writers were able tocreate new textual forms and registers which are specific for NI writing. It might have been precisely thanks to the tension they have experienced that they were able to produce such a specific literature. DeclanKiberd asserts that experience the Irish got ‘…produced a great experimental literature,whichis admiredacross the worldand whichhas, coded intoits texts,manyelements whichmight be helpful inredesigninganIrelandof the future.’ 4Thisistruenotonlyfortheauthorsfrom theSouth,asclaimedbyKiberdinhis book Inventing Ireland, 5 but also for those from the North. Nevertheless, a book as Kiberd’s critical assessment of Irish literature that wouldexclusively focus onNorthern Irishwritingassuchhas not beenpublishedyet. 6 Considering all the formative forces, the state of contemporary NI writing is taken as a complex product of its society. To find the patterns in which the current society was formed, we may turn to contemporary novels for our questions to be 1 The title of the thesis was inspired by David Miller’s book Rethinking Northern Ireland . London: Longman, 1998. 2 The abbreviation NI is further to be used to refer to Northern Ireland or to Northern Irish writing. 3 See Pelaschiar, Laura, Writing the North. The Contemporary Novel in Northern Ireland. Triest: Fonda grafiche multimediali, 1998. 4 Kiberd, Declan, Inventing Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation. London: Vintage, 1996. p. 652. 5 Kiberd, Declan, Inventing Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation. London: Vintage, 1996. 6 A book about fiction and the NI Troubles since 1969 was written by Elmer Kennedy-Andrews Fiction and the Northern Ireland Troubles Since 1969: (De-)constructing the North . (Dublin: Four Court Press, 2003); and a publication focused on contemporary Northern Irish writing Northern Irish Literature, 1975-2006: The Imprint of History by Michael Parker is going to be published in September 2007. 6 answered. These novels represent new ways of thinking about the globalised, multitextured society that has developed in Ireland, North and South. Gerry Smyth claims about the Irish novel that: ‘The novel is important in modern Irish culture because as a genre it evolved to formulate narratives in which social, political and historicalchangecouldbeaccommodated.’ 7Thisassertionis basedonthefactthatthere is a natural link present between culture and nation. In other words, the narratives producedby individuals or communities are closelyassociatedwiththe sociopolitical administrationandthehistoricalidentitiesofthe particularnation. 8 The aim of the thesis is toprovide an account of the influence of the Troubles on shaping the developing society as portrayed in two representative examples of contemporaryNorthernIrishwriting. Bothof the selectednovels –One by One in the Darkness 9 by Deirdre Madden and Grace Notes 10 by Bernard Mac Laverty – are concerned with the topic of rethinking identities and use the problematic situation in NorthernIrelandas their background.The first bookchosentobe analysedwithinthe present thesis was Deirdre Madden’s One by One in the Darkness .The choice has been partlyinfluencedbythe impact,whichanother workbythis author has hadonme; it was her first book Hidden Symptoms ,11 which refers tothe situationinUlster before the renewal of sectarianviolence. 12 Inthis book,Maddendepicts the life stories of people that have been limited by political and religious realities. The main character of the booklost her twin brother to sectarianviolence. He was not politically active but was randomlypickedout as a representative of his ‘sort’ to give the others a warning. The demonstrationof suchinjustice in Hidden Symptoms is alsothe theme of One by One in the Darkness ,whereafamilymemberisaccidentallykilled. The second book, Bernard Mac Laverty’s Grace Notes , was subsequently selectedas it addresses a similar theme toMadden’s,particularlyin the portrayal of the fate of a youngwomanstrugglingthroughher life toreach the state of self-realisation andfulfilmentwiththe Troubles inthe background. 7 Smyth, Gerry. The Novel and the Nation. London: Pluto Press, 1997. p. 7. 8 Furthermore, the fact that every human being has the inner urge to narrate himself/herself should not be neglected, as personality or the self, rather, exists due to the execution of the inner urge only as a narrative. 9 Madden, Deirdre. One by One in the Darkness . London: Faber, 1996. 10 Mac Laverty, Bernard. Grace Notes . London: Vintage, 1998. 11 Madden, Deirdre. Hidden Symptoms . London: Faber, 1988. 12 The title suggests that the city of Belfast has been sick for a longer time but the symptoms were understood only when violence broke out. 7 Bothtexts are focusedonthe process of revising personal andcultural identities. They depict young female protagonists