Nostalgia and the Irish Fairy Landscape
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The land of heart’s desire: Nostalgia and the Irish fairy landscape Hannah Claire Irwin BA (Media and Cultural Studies), B. Media (Hons 1) Macquarie University This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Media and Cultural Studies. Faculty of Arts, Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney August 2017 2 Table of Contents Figures Index 6 Abstract 7 Author Declaration 8 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction: Out of this dull world 1.1 Introduction 11 1.2 The research problem and current research 12 1.3 The current field 13 1.4 Objective and methodology 14 1.5 Defining major terms 15 1.6 Structure of research 17 Chapter One - Literature Review: Hungry thirsty roots 2.1 Introduction 20 2.2 Early collections (pre-1880) 21 2.3 The Irish Literary Revival (1880-1920) 24 2.4 Movement from ethnography to analysis (1920-1990) 31 2.5 The ‘new fairylore’ (post-1990) 33 2.6 Conclusion 37 Chapter Two - Theory: In a place apart 3.1 Introduction 38 3.2 Nostalgia 39 3.3 The Irish fairy landscape 43 3 3.4 Space and place 49 3.5 Power 54 3.6 Conclusion 58 Chapter Three - Nationalism: Green jacket, red cap 4.1 Introduction 59 4.2 Nationalism and the power of place 60 4.3 The wearing of the green: Evoking nostalgia for Éire 63 4.4 The National Leprechaun Museum 67 4.5 The Last Leprechauns of Ireland 74 4.6 Critique 81 4.7 Conclusion 89 Chapter Four - Heritage: Up the airy mountain 5.1 Introduction 93 5.2 Heritage and the conservation of place 94 5.3 Discovering Ireland the ‘timeless’: Heritage tourism and the mythologisation of the past 97 5.4 Gillighan’s World: The Field of Dreams 101 5.5 Lough Gur 108 5.6 Critique 115 5.7 Conclusion 122 Chapter Five - Sacred: Spirits of wood and water 6.1 Introduction 126 6.2 Sacredness and the sacralisation of place 127 6.3 Reviving the Druids: Neo-paganism and the performance of nostalgia 130 6.4 Newgrange 133 4 6.5 The Hill of Tara 141 6.6 Critique 148 6.7 Conclusion 154 Conclusion: The land of heart’s desire 7.1 Summary and implications of the critical analysis 159 7.2 Aims of the creative work 161 7.3 Future research 166 Creative: Astray Coin 169 Swan 197 Hawthorn 226 Bone 254 Translations from Irish 292 Character List 295 Creative References 297 Figures References 300 Reference List 302 5 Figures Index Chapter Three - Nationalism: Green jacket, red cap Figure 1.1 The National Leprechaun Museum 90 Figure 1.2 Spectators at the 2015 St Patrick’s Day Parade, New York 90 Figure 1.3 Map of the National Leprechaun Museum 91 Figure 1.4 Carlingford with Slieve Foye in the background 91 Figure 1.5 Leprechaun protected area, Slieve Foye 92 Figure 1.6 Leprechaun figurines, Dublin 92 Chapter Four - Heritage: Up the airy mountain Figure 2.1 Visitor brochure for Gillighan’s World 123 Figure 2.2 Faerie ring with Knocknashee in background, Gillighan’s World 123 Figure 2.3 Knockfennel Hill, Lough Gur 124 Figure 2.4 Tree and Fairy Trail Map of Lough Gur 124 Figure 2.5 Faerie gardens, Gillighan’s World 125 Figure 2.6 Summer solstice at the Grange Stone Circle, 2017 125 Chapter Five: - Sacred: Spirits of wood and water Figure 3.1 Aerial view of Newgrange 156 Figure 3.2 Neo-pagans celebrate winter solstice, Newgrange 156 Figure 3.3 Neo-pagan pilgrims performing a ritual on a Sacred Earth Journeys tour 157 Figure 3.4 Aerial view of the Hill of Tara 157 Figure 3.5 Lia Fáil, the Stone of Destiny, Tara 158 Figure 3.6 Fairy tree, Hill of Tara 158 6 Abstract This thesis argues that multiple fairy sites in Ireland are constructed and produced as nostalgic places. Nostalgia is used for its affective properties in the production of Irish fairy sites in order to authenticate and perpetuate a particular effect and response. These fairy sites are aligned with powerful discourses of nationalism, heritage, and the sacred, allowing particular groups to control the narratives and space of these sites. The dominant and enforced discourses that construct and control these sites have implications in terms of the definition and use of space, and the Irish fairy landscape has become a site of political and social struggle over meaning and identity. I identify through my research an unequal distribution of power in favour of particular groups, limiting the possibility of alternative and diverse readings of and engagement with these sites, and by extension with nostalgia, folklore, and the Irish landscape. This thesis is comprised of a critical analysis and a creative work. Utilising the spatial theories of Doreen Massey (2005), the critical analysis focuses on the construction of Irish fairy sites as places, specifically how nostalgia is deployed to legitimise and control the narrative and physical space of these fairy sites. This is achieved through site-specific analysis on the three ‘new’ fairy sites of the National Leprechaun Museum in Dublin, the ‘Last Leprechauns of Ireland’ site in Carlingford, County Louth, and ‘Gillighan’s World: The Field of Dreams’ in County Sligo, and the three ‘old’ fairy sites of Lough Gur in County Limerick, and Newgrange and the Hill of Tara in County Meath. Included in these analyses is a critique of the dominant nostalgic narrative of each site. The creative work, a novella entitled Astray, operates as a further contestation of the powerful discourses and narratives controlling these sites, and also aims to expand the definitions of nostalgia, place, and fairies. Through interwoven narratives, Astray works to make these six Irish fairy sites multivocal, and connected to the broader Irish fairy landscape. 7 Author Declaration I certify that the work in this thesis entitled has not previously been submitted for a degree nor has it been submitted as part of the requirements for a degree to any other university or institution other than Macquarie University. I also certify that this thesis is an original piece of research and that the work herein is entirely my own, except where acknowledged. Hannah Claire Irwin August 2017 8 Acknowledgements I can honestly say that without the help of everyone included in these acknowledgments, this thesis would never have been completed. Thank you firstly to my supervisor Dr. Ian Collinson, who took me on despite knowing full well my love for dark folklore, Celtic history, creative writing, and everything else out of the realm of commonplace research topics. Your patience, good humour, wisdom, and passion for research makes me proud to have considered you my mentor for the past four years. Thank you also to my co-supervisor Dr. Steve Collins. I always felt supported knowing that I could contact you for advice, and your willingness to help me on such short notice in the final weeks before submission was much appreciated. To my parents Claire and David Irwin: Thank you for the advice, chocolate, jokes, late-night editing sessions, encouragement, and for believing that I could do it. You were always there to take the wheel when I tried my best to run this ship onto the rocks. To my brother Nathan: Thank you for the late night chats, weird texts, common sense, and for checking up on me when I needed it. To Branka and Siobhan: Thank you for keeping me sane over the past several years, and I sincerely hope that the feeling was mutual. Having someone to talk to about ‘thesis stuff’ was invaluable, and I can’t wait for our next project (and long lunch) together. To Sam, Emma, and Julia: Thank you for being amazing friends, supporting me over the past four years, and agreeing to read the creative work to get it ready for submission. Now that I can stop being a hermit, we need to go on some more adventures together. To Aunty Miriam and Aunty Vivienne: Thank you for always being so enthusiastic about my research, and for agreeing to read the creative work. Your input was invaluable. Finally, to Marina: Thank you for listening. 9 10 Introduction: Out of this dull world 1.1 Introduction My first impression was disappointing, “an imposing, barren, solitary mound”, nothing like the faerie place we all imagine … I recall feeling rather sad and lonely, and an overwhelming sense of “being in the world, but not of it” (Gillighan’s World The Field of Dreams 2017). Melody Urquhart, owner and founder of ‘Gillighan’s World: The Field of Dreams’ recorded this statement as part of her first impressions of Knocknashee, an Irish fairy site in County Sligo. Disillusioned by her experience, Urquhart spent six years constructing Gillighan’s World which opened to visitors in 1999. Urquhart claimed that the motivation behind the project was to preserve the folklore and ‘tell the story’ of Knocknashee (Gillighan’s World: The Field of Dreams 2017). However, upon my visit to Gillighan’s World as part of a research trip to Ireland in June 2014, I discovered a disconnection between Urquhart’s motivation and the site itself. Gillighan’s World comprises botanical gardens, picnic areas, artificial landscape features, and fairy and toadstool figurines, and makes no reference in its production to Knocknashee either as an archaeological site or to specific Irish folktales relating to the site. Instead, Urquhart created the ‘faerie place’ of her imagination that Knocknashee had failed to deliver, a nostalgic construction based on an idealised version of Ireland and its history. Upon further investigation, I discovered several other sites in Ireland that shared attributes with Urquhart’s creation.