The impact of the border on Irish fiction, 1969-2016

Partition was a colonial imposition that facilitated the creation of two inward looking monocultures on the island ofireland. These nation-states, South and North, adhered to a conservative, heteronormative ideology that was suspicious of difference and punished nonconformity. In the North ofireland (North), the Catholic minority were construed as a dangerous Other. In the Republic ofireland (Republic), the powerful Catholic Hierarchy oversaw the development of a culture defined by fear and hidden trauma. However, partition did not simply divide two nation-states; it also created a liminal border space. At the periphery of both North and South, the border was a site beyond control that offered a physical and imaginative space for non­conformity and challenge. Partition divided two antagonistic 'peoples', but it also united individuals incapable of or unwilling to take a place within the hegemony of the nation-state. This study sets out to understand the impact of the border on the cultural development of the two states it came into being alongside. Through a close reading of Irish fiction, published since 1969, I will propose that the border has had, and continues to have, a significant influence on Irish writing. This, I will argue, is most clearly seen in the tendency of border fictions to reject standards of narrative development and to end in ambiguity and failure.

Grantor dc:publisher

University College Cork

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• McConigley, Martin

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Laird, Heather
• O'Connor, Maureen

• Irish fiction 1969-2016
• Irish writing
• Irish border

Statement dc:rights

• © 2019, Martin McConigley.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10468/18214

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:cora.ucc.ie:10468/18214