POSTNATIONALIST SUBVERSION OF THE CONSTITUENTS OF IRISHNESS: LAND, RELIGION AND FAMILY IN THE PLAYS OF MARTIN MCDONAGH AND DERMOT BOLGER A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY SEDA ÖRMENGÜL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE JULY 2015 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nurten Birlik Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Assist. Prof. Dr. Margaret J. M. Sönmez Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ünal Norman (METU, FLE) Assist. Prof. Dr. Margaret J.M. Sönmez (METU, FLE) Prof. Dr. Deniz Bozer (Hacettepe U, IDE) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özlem Uzundemir (Çankaya U., ELL) Assist. Prof. Dr. Nil Korkut-Naykı (METU, FLE) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Seda Örmengül Signature : iii ABSTRACT POSTNATIONALIST SUBVERSION OF THE CONSTITUENTS OF IRISHNESS: LAND, RELIGION AND FAMILY IN THE PLAYS OF MARTIN MCDONAGH AND DERMOT BOLGER Örmengül, Seda Ph.D., Department of English Literature Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Margaret J.M. Sönmez July 2015, 260 pages The social, political and economic changes undergone by the Republic of Ireland since the 1990s resulted in critical changes in the perception of Irish national identity and nationalist ideology. It was a new period characterized by its epithet, the Celtic Tiger, a period of rapid economic growth, and the opening up of Irish economy and politics to the world. The Irish society was now characterized by the diversity and complexities as a consequence of its interaction with the globalized world. In this context, nationalism began to give way to postnationalism which promoted plural and complicated definitions of Irishness drawing attention to the diversity and complexities of the Irish society. Changes in the perception of Irishness were reflected in theatre as well. Playwrights writing in the 1990s challenged the concept of a stable and coherent Ireland and Irishness by problematizing the very notion of nation and by celebrating plurality and multiplicity. They attempted to problematize the foundational elements of traditional Irishness, such as land, nationalistic fervor and Catholic religion. The aim of this study is to analyze the plays of Martin McDonagh and Dermot Bolger as plays written in a postnational context, and explore how they treat the constituents of Irishness – land, religion and family - and reconfigure them from a postnationalist perspective. iv Keywords: Irish Theatre, Irishness, Nationalism, Postnationalism, the Celtic Tiger Period v ÖZ İRLANDALILIĞI OLUŞTURAN TEMEL UNSURLARIN POSTMİLLİYETÇİ AÇIDAN ALTÜST EDİLMESİ: MARTIN MCDONAGH VE DERMOT BOLGER’IN OYUNLARINDA TOPRAK, DİN VE AİLE Örmengül, Seda Doktora, İngiliz Edebiyatı Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Margaret J.M. Sönmez Temmuz 2015, 260 sayfa İrlanda’nın 1990’lı yıllardan itibaren içinden geçtiği sosyal, politik ve ekonomik değişimler, İrlanda ulusal kimliği ve ulusal ideolojinin algılanışında önemli değişikliklere yol açmıştır. İrlanda’nın Kelt Kaplanı adıyla anıldığı bu yeni dönem, hızlı bir ekonomik yükselme ve İrlanda ekonomisinin ve siyasetinin dünyaya açılma dönemi olmuştur. Globalleşen dünya ile yaşadığı etkileşim sonucu, İrlanda toplumu bu dönemde farklılıkların öne çıktığı, karmaşık bir sosyal yapıya dönüşmüştür. Bu bağlamda, milliyetçilik yerini postmilliyetçiliğe bırakmaya başlamıştır ki postmilliyetçilik İrlandalılığın çoğulcu ve karmaşık tanımlamalarını ön plana çıkarmaktadır. İrlandalılığın algılanmasındaki bu değişiklikler tiyatroya da yansımıştır. 1990’lı yıllarda yazan oyun yazarları, ulus kavramını sorunsallaştırarak ve çoğulculuk ve farklılığı ön planda tutarak, durağan ve tutarlı bir İrlanda ve İrlandalılık kavramına karşı çıkmışlardır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Martin Mcdonagh ve Dermot Bolger’in oyunlarını postmilliyetçi bağlamda yazılmış oyunlar olarak analiz etmek ve toprak, din, aile gibi İrlandalılığın oluşturan temel bileşenleri nasıl ele aldıklarını ve onları postmilliyetçi bir açıdan nasıl tekrar kurguladıklarını göstermektir. Anahtar Kelimeler: İrlanda Tiyatrosu, İrlandalılık, Milliyetçilik, postmilliyetçilik, Kelt Kaplanı Dönemi vi To those who deny and are denied any kinds of affiliation vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like express my deepest thanks and gratitude to my advisor Assist. Prof. Dr. Margaret Sönmez for her intellectual guidance, her kindhearted and nurturing supervision, her emotional support and especially for her patience in reading my draft chapters over and again and encouraging me in my laziest times. Her positive energy was my greatest luck throughout my writing process. I am deeply grateful to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ünal Norman for her precious comments and suggestions for this study. I am also forever indebted to her for the deep imprint she left in both my academic and private life with her inspiring graduate seminars, her words of wisdom and life lessons. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Deniz Bozer for her invaluable comments, suggestions and ideas. I also feel privileged to have attended one of her graduate courses at Hacettepe University. It was while taking this course that I became acquainted with the work of Martin McDonagh, and some of the ideas in this study occurred to me. I would like to thank Assist. Prof. Dr. Nil Korkut Naykı for her meticulous reading of my work and her insightful suggestions and comments. I also wish to thank her for offering me the opportunity to follow her undergraduate classes, which provided me with unique guidance for my future teaching experiences. I am grateful to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özlem Uzundemir for her valuable contributions, comments and her positive attitude. I could not survive this academic journey without the companionship of my dearest friends Zeynep Ölçü Dinçer, Özlem Türe Abacı, Gözde Balıkçı, Gülden Taner and Mehmet Akkuş. They supported and encouraged me in my most desperate moments and never let me give up this compelling adventure. Words fail me to express the value of their place in my life. I am indebted to Reyyan Bal for not only sharing my academic sufferings but for listening to my complaints during my existential crises and supporting me with her precious advices. viii Many thanks also to Fatma Gümüşok, Ufuk Ataş, Elzem Nazli, Özlem Arslan and Aslı Kutluk for their solidarity and moral support. I will never forget the moment when I saw all my excited friends around me after my thesis defense. I am forever indebted to each and every of them to make me feel that I am loved and valued. I extend my thanks to Seda Coşar Çelik, Buket Doğan, Emel Yüksel, Şermin Sezer and Şule Akdoğan. They are now all away in their own adventures, but I feel their support and fellowship by my side whenever I need. Much love and thanks to my mother Süreyya Gül Cantimur and my brother Arda Cantimur for their constant support and everlasting faith in me. And last, but always first, thanks to my husband Erman Örmengül who deserves this Ph.D. degree more than I do. I am indebted to him for his inexhaustable patience, affection and unconditional love. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM .......................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iv ÖZ .............................................................................................................................. vi DEDICATION ......................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................... viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Before the Abbey .................................................................................. 4 1.2 The Abbey: Searching for Irishness ...................................................... 7 1.3 The Second Renaissance: A Period of Existential Crisis .................... 15 1.4 A New Generation: Overcoming Limitations of Nation ..................... 18 1.5 The Aim and Scope of the Study ........................................................ 20 2. DEBATES AROUND NATIONALISM AND POSTNATIONALISM ..... 22 2.1 Theorizing Nation and Nationalism .................................................... 22 2.1.1 Theories of Nationalism: Implications ....................................... 25 2.1.2 Modernists .................................................................................. 26 2.1.3 Modern Primordialists ................................................................ 29 2.2 Postnationalism ................................................................................... 31 2.3