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The Uses and Abuses of Comedy in Novels from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (1988-Present)

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The Uses and Abuses of Comedy in Novels from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (1988-Present) Lynne Victoria Crook MA, BA Hons BORDERING ON LAUGHTER: THE USES AND ABUSES OF COMEDY IN NOVELS FROM NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (1988- PRESENT) This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. I declare that this thesis is my own work, and has not been submitted in substantially the same form for the award of a higher degree elsewhere. September 2007 ProQuest Number: 11003626 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11003626 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT Lynne Victoria Crook: MA, BA Hons. Submission for Ph.D. September 2007. Bordering on Laughter: the uses and abuses of comedy in novels from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (1988-present) This study will argue that the distinct social and political changes which have occurred in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland during the last twenty years have altered the choice and treatment of the targets of comedy in different ways for writers from either side of the border. Though this work builds upon classic studies of Irish literary comedy such as Vivian Mercier’s The Irish Comic Tradition (1962), there is little current criticism on the use of comedy in the contemporary novel from either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. Past work, such as that by Mercier and also David Krause’sThe Profane Book of Irish Comedy (1982), has tended to concentrate solely on literature from the Republic of Ireland, linking it to ancient Gaelic traditions. Though the importance of such traditions should be acknowledged, this study endeavours to push beyond them, considering the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in relation to each other and also as part of an increasingly globalised economic and cultural milieu. This thesis begins with a consideration of camivalesque comedy demonstrating how the use of carnival imagery reflects changing attitudes to social and political structures. It continues with an examination of the appearance in literature of the often unheard comic voices of ‘everyday’ groups in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Finally, it will consider how increasingly globalised economic and cultural dynamics have affected both areas, and how comedy sets up an interrogation of the status of the individual in this new environment. This thesis moves towards an evaluation of comedy as a way for writers to examine issues which are inherently unstable in a rapidly changing political and social world. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor Lynne Pearce for her expert supervision, as well as her encouragement and patience. I would also like to express my gratitude to Dr. Jayne Steel for setting me on the right path, as well as her expert knowledge of Irish literature. I would also like to thank Dr. Sally Bushell for her support as Postgraduate Tutor. Dr. Rose Jack, Dr. Kamilla Elliot and Dr. Mike Greaney have all provided invaluable advice and comments in various panels and upgrades. There are several people who have provided help and support during my time as a Teaching Assistant. I would like to thank Dr. Catherine Spooner, Dr. Rose Jack and all of my fellow TAs over the past four years. I would also like to thank Ms. Leila Moore, both in her role as Postgraduate Secretary and Part One Secretary. The British Association for Irish Studies have provided much support in the form of information and the opportunity to disseminate my research. I would like to thank my friends in the Graduate College and my housemates. I would also like to mention Emma Vickers and Shaun Scally for allowing me to pick their brains over bizarre points and not looking at me strangely. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their unfailing love, support and encouragement over my university career. ABBREVIATIONS CHAPTER ONE Commitments Roddy Doyle,The Commitments, in The Barrytown Trilogy (London: Vintage, 1998 [1988]), pp.1-140 Eureka Robert McLiam Wilson, Eureka Street (London: Vintage, 1997 [1996]) Ripley Robert McLiam Wilson, Ripley Bogle (London: Vintage, 1998 [1989]) Snapper Roddy Doyle,The Snapper, in The Barrytown Trilogy (London: Vintage, 1998 [1990]), pp. 141-340 Star Roddy Doyle, AStar Called Henry (London: Vintage, 2000) Van Roddy Doyle,The Van, in The Barrytown Trilogy (London: Vintage, 1998 [1991]), pp. 341-633 CHAPTER TWO International Glenn Patterson,The International (London: Anchor, 1999) Jack Colin Bateman,Divorcing Jack (London: Harper Collins, 2001 [1995]) Mammy Brendan O’Carroll,The Mammy (Dublin: O’Brien Press, 2005 [1994]) Priests Colin Bateman,Turbulent Priests (London: Harper Collins, 2000 [1999]) Rachel Marian Keyes, Rachel's Holiday (London: Penguin, 1997) Right Pauline McLynn,Right on Time (London: Headline, 2003 [2002]) Side Marian Keyes, The Other Side of the Story (London: Penguin, 2005 [2004]) Titanic Mary Costello, Titanic Town: A Novel (London: Methuen, 1998 [1993]) Wan Brendan O’Carroll,The Young Wan (London: Plume, 2004) Water Marian Keyes, Watermelon (London: Arrow Books, 2001 [1996]) Weekend- Pauline McLynn,Something for the Weekend (London: Headline, 2000) Wee Sweetie Colin Bateman,Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men (London: Harper Collins, 1996) CHAPTER THREE Breakfast Patrick McCabe, Breakfast On Pluto (London: Picador, 1999 [1998]) Breeze Patrick McCabe, Call Me the Breeze (London: Faber and Faber, 2003) Cartoon Ferdia Mac Anna,Cartoon City (London: Review, 2000) Cat Damien Owens,Dead Cat Bounce (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2001) Homecoming Robert Cremins,A Sort of Homecoming (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1998) Jessie Zane Radcliffe,Big Jessie (London: Black Swan, 2003) This thesis follows the style conventions contained in MHRAthe Style Guide (London: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2002). I have, however, adopted the publishing convention of stating original publication dates for texts in square brackets. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION p. 1 CHAPTER ONE CARNIVAL COMEDY: CELEBRATORY GROTESQUE, OR A GROTESQUE CELEBRATION? Introduction p. 25 Ripley Bogle: Robert McLiam Wilson p. 36 The Barrytown Trilogy: Roddy Doyle p. 46 Eureka Street: Robert McLiam Wilson p. 60 A Star Called Henry: Roddy Doyle p. 72 Conclusion p.84 CHAPTER TWO MUNDANE MIRTH: THE EVERYDAY IN COMEDY Introduction p. 91 Gender Roles p. 98 The Family and Comedy p. 115 Comedy and the Community p. 128 Conclusion p. 153 CHAPTER THREE INTERNATIONAL AMUSEMENT: THE COMEDIC VIEW OF THE ‘HYPERREAL,’ THE ‘AUTHENTIC’ AND THE ‘REAL’ Introduction p. 157 Globalization and the ‘New Ireland’ p. 168 Place, Violence and the Borders of Comedy p. 182 Comedy and the Subjective Self p. 206 Conclusion p. 220 CONCLUSION p. 225 BIBLIOGRAPHY p. 234 1 INTRODUCTION ‘I was supposed to do James Joyce’s shopping once but I couldn’t make head or tail of the shopping’1 list The above quotation illustrates the strength of the tradition of comedy in both society and literature in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and also some of the potential pitfalls of studying it. Stephen Dixon and Deirdre Falvey note in their study of contemporary Irish stand-up comedy that the attention to Irish comedy has concentrated upon the literary tradition: ‘Ireland’s popular humour in some ways has a more literary tradition. There is a respect for words, the use of words, and all that storytelling guff.’ This thesis does engage directly with the literary tradition of comedy, but I would also like to stress that the comedy which emerges from within the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland belongs to distinct socio-political trajectories, while also relating to the sphere of wider literary and cultural influences. The time period covered by this study is determined both by literary and social landmarks. The earliest novels dealt with in this study,The Commitments (1988) and Ripley Bogle (1989), mark a time in which both Northern Ireland and the Republic were on the cusp of change. In the Republic,The Commitments was published just two years after an attempt to legalise divorce was defeated and one year before an 1 Kevin Gildea, cited by Stephen Dixon and Deirdre Falvey, inThe Gift of the Gag: The Explosion in Irish Comedy (Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1999), p. 104. Within this study I have been forced to use the generalised term ‘Irish’ with reference to many critical works. However, in my own argument I have tried to distinguish between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland due to the different (though interlinked) social and political changes which have occurred within the two areas in the last twenty years. 2Stephen D ixon and Deirdre Falvey, p. 7. 2 injunction prevented students of Trinity College distributing information on abortion.3 However, in contrast to these persistent conservative values in public life, the novel was also published one year before Mary Robinson was elected President and four years before homosexuality was legalised (232-233). Within Northern Ireland,Ripley Bogle was published during a time of continuing and intractable violence. It was five years since the Anglo-Irish Agreement had been signed (agreeing that both the Republic of Ireland and Britain should be included in any settlements in Northern Ireland) and two years before the Major government took over from Margaret Thatcher, but, tellingly, also four years before the Warrington bombing (232- 234).
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