Irishness on the Margins: Minority and Dissident Identities

Villar-Argáiz, Pilar (ed). Irishness on the Margins: Minority and Dissident Identities. London: Palgrave Mcmillan, 2018. 290p.Villar-Argáiz, Pilar (ed). Irishness on the Margins: Minority and Dissident Identities. London: Palgrave Mcmillan, 2018. 290p

Colm Tóibín and post-nationalist Ireland: redefining family through alterity

In nationalist Ireland, definitions of family have traditionally followed a hetero-normative and sexist pattern whereby husbands and wives fulfilled deeply unequal roles. Moreover, the notion of family has been too often idealized as a site of peace and unconditional love, its members being united by unbreakable bonds of mutual affection. In Colm Tóibín’s fiction, “traditional” families tend to be dysfunctional and the relations between their members become strained because of emotional distance, regrets and distrust. However, Tóibín’s protagonists do find their sense of home and domesticity outside the traditional parameters of family. In this regard, this paper intends to analyze the manner in which Tóibín de-stabilizes canonical definitions through his revisionist agenda and his inscription of alternative forms of family. In order to shed light on these points, I shall refer to his novels The South (1990), The Heather Blazing (1992), The Blackwater Lightship (1999) and his short stories “A Long Winter” (Mothers and Sons, 2006), “Two Women” and “The Street” (The Empty Family, 2010).En el ideario nacionalista irlandés, cualquier definición de familia seguía un patrón heteronormativo y sexista en el que hombres y mujeres debían desempeñar roles profundamente opuestos y desiguales. Además, la noción de familia ha sido, a menudo, objeto de idealizaciones que la caracterizaban como remanso de paz, concordia y amor mutuo e incondicional entre sus miembros. En las obras de Colm Tóibín, las relaciones familiares vienen marcadas por distanciamientos emocionales, desconfianzas y arrepentimientos. Sin embargo, los protagonistas en sus obras sí encuentran en otros individuos un sentido de hogar y domesticidad que va más allá del modelo tradicional de familia. En este artículo se va a analizar la manera en que Tóibín desestabiliza el concepto canónico de tal institución mediante una visión revisionista y una inscripción alternativa de familia. Para ilustrar estos argumentos, me referiré a sus novelas The South (1990), The Heather Blazing (1992), The Blackwater Lightship (1999) y a sus relatos cortos “A Long Winter” (Mothers and Sons, 2006), “Two Women” y “The Street” (The Empty Family, 2010)

Silence and familial homophobia in Colm Tóibín’s “Entiendes” and “One Minus One”

The present study focuses on two of Colm Tóibín’s gay short-stories – “Entiendes” (1993) and “One Minus One” (2010) – in which the homosexual son meditates on his attachment to the dead mother. In both texts, Tóibín characterises the mother-son bond as being fraught with silence, resentment and lack of communication. In “One Minus One” and “Entiendes”, the son’s closeted homosexu-ality coexists with familial legacies of shame, uneasiness and du-plicity. The central characters in the two texts are similar, as they experience the same type of existential exile, solitude and aliena-tion derived from their complex attachments to home and family. As shall be explained, the author dwells on the damaging effects of familial homophobia, highlighting the limitations of the dominant heteronormative family model to accommodate gay sensibilitiesAgencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. FFI2017-84619-PXunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431D2017/1

“I am not one of his followers”: The Rewriting of the Cultural Icon of the Virgin in Colm Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary

However, the devotion to Mary has turned her into a powerful icon of religious folklore in many Catholic societies. In Ireland, the Virgin has often been used as a figure for cultural nationalism, characterised by its religious orthodoxy, rigid moral codes and a staunch defense of patriarchy. In The Testament of Mary (2012), Irish author Colm Tóibín, a lapsed Catholic and anti-traditionalist intellectual, rewrites the cultural icon of the Virgin and offers a humane, complex and highly subversive portrait of this legendary mother. Exiled in Ephesus, the Virgin feels repelled by the constant visits of her “guardians”, who want her to recount the event of the Crucifixion. It is soon revealed that the apostles are trying to appropriate her voice and experiences, as Mary readily intimates that one of the guardians “has written of things that neither he saw nor I saw” (5). The questions of voice, agency and performance become essential in the reshaping of narratives of cultural identity. Thus, the novel dramatises the importance of articulating one’s own voice through Mary’s urge “to tell the truth of what happened” (82) on her own terms

Unspeakable Injuries and Neoliberal Subjectivities in Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends and Normal People

This chapter draws on care ethics and vulnerability theory to explore Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends (2017) and Normal People (2018) as novels that delve into contexts of silence and dysfunction in the lives of Irish millennials who experience their vulnerability as unspeakable, as a sign of weakness and abnormality in a competitive, individualistic world. The analysis details the ways in which Rooney’s characters adopt strategies such as passing, concealment and ironic distance, and how their anxieties highlight the injustices and contradictions of their neoliberal culture. This chapter ultimately argues that, even though in both novels plot events foreground the lies, omissions and frustrations of dysfunctional silences, a silence of refusal progressively emerges whereby Rooney’s protagonists evade social expectations, abandon previous pretences and begin to establish a more honest and caring relationship with their significant others.The research for this chapter was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the European Regional Development Fund and the Spanish Research Agency through the Research Projects “INTRUTHS Inconvenient Truths: Cultural Practices of Silence in Contemporary Irish Fiction”. FFI2017-84619-P AEI/FEDER, UE and “INTRUTHS 2: Articulations of Individual and Communal Vulnerabilities in Contemporary Irish Writing” PID2020-114776GB-I00 MCIN/AEI

The irish female migrant, silence and family duty in Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn

Set in the 1950s, Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn (2009) traces the life experiences of Eilis Lacey, who is urged by her family to migrate to Brooklyn due to the lack of opportunities for young women in her native Enniscorthy, a small town in rural Ireland. Just as she begins to establish a new life in America, a tragic event at home calls her back to Ireland. During her visit, Eilis faces the terrible dilemma of having to choose between her sense of familial duty and the ful - fillment of her own desires. In his novel, Tóibín provides a subtle and complex portrayal of the socio-familial pressures affecting the life of the protagonist, whose unverbalised thoughts speak for the decisions she is not allowed to make. In this way, Tóibín denounces the historical and cultural silences surrounding the subjectivity of the Irish female migran

He’s Been Wanting to Say That for a Long Time”: Varieties of Silence in Colm Tóibín’s Fiction

This chapter explores the multivalent significance of silence in Colm Tóibín’s fiction, from his debut novel The South (1990) to his collection of stories The Empty Family (2010). The chapter considers Colm Tóibín’s use of silence as an aesthetic practice and key narrative element that foregrounds the tensions between revelation and concealment, emotional release and reticence, as well as the ambiguities between knowing and unknowing, which underlie most of his protagonists’ dilemmas. The analysis pays attention to how Tóibín dramatises sexual taboos and traumas—i.e. familial homophobia and AIDS stigma—through narratives that develop within the domain of personal silences. The chapter thus identifies and assesses a discourse of silence running through Tóibín’s oeuvre, which constructs his characters’ psychology as they navigate personal and social pressures, and attempt to come to terms with their emotional truths.The research for this chapter was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the European Regional Development Fund and the Spanish Research Agency through the Research Projects “INTRUTHS Inconvenient Truths: Cultural Practices of Silence in Contemporary Irish Fiction” FFI2017-84619-P AEI/FEDER, UE and “INTRUTHS 2: Articulations of Individual and Communal Vulnerabilities in Contemporary Irish Writing” PID2020-114776GB-I00 MCIN/AEI

Gender, sexuality and the ideology of the family in Ireland

En Irlanda, la creación del Estado Libre Irlandés en 1922 dio lugar a la institucionalización de una noción conservadora de identidad nacional, caracterizada por su enaltecimiento de valores patriarcales y católicos que menoscababan los derechos individuales de mujeres y homosexuales. La definición tradicional de familia, descrita en la Constitución Irlandesa de 1937 como unidad básica y pilar fundamental de la sociedad, parece haber desempeñado un papel esencial en el ensalzamiento de ciertos valores morales en la recién proclamada República (Brown 2004:152; Conrad 2004:10; Mullally 2005:85). Haciendo uso de una perspectiva histórica y cultural, el presente trabajo intentará explicar cómo el hecho de definir la familia necesariamente acarrea ciertos conflictos de interpretación relacionados con la legalidad y la aceptación pública de manifestaciones alternativas de familia (Hodgson 1994:222; Martin 2005:18). Este estudio remite también a la noción de “performatividad” de Judith Butler, que contempla la idea de género como un constructo social. Asimismo, la percepción general sobre qué es una familia varía según circunstancias sociales y discursos morales.In Ireland, the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 was followed by the institutionalisation of a deeply conservative notion of national identity, firmly sustained by Catholic and patriarchal values which were at odds with the personal rights of women and homosexuals. Described in the 1937 Constitution as “the natural, primary and fundamental unit group of society” (article 41.1), the traditional definition of family seems to have played an instrumental role in the promotion of a national ethos in the newly independent Republic (Brown 2004:152; Conrad 2004:10; Mullally 2005:85). Making use of a cultural and historical perspective, this article will discuss how defining family entails conflicts of interpretation as well as questions of legitimacy that relate to constitutional law and the accepted mores of society (Hodgson 1994:222; Martin 2005:18). This study is also informed by Judith Butler’s theorisation of the “performative”, which views gender as socially constructed. Likewise, the structural forms of legitimacy involving the family are fluid, thus keeping a correlation with current social values.Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes | Ref. FPU12/0056

An Na's A Step From Heaven: realidades desoladoras, un futuro esperanzador

El libro de An Na, "A Step from heaven", (2002) es una novela de iniciación que relata el crecimiento emocional de su protagonista, Young Ju, tras haber emigrado desde Corea hasta Estados Unidos con cuatro años de edad. A través de la perspectiva de la protagonista, los lectores se ven implicados en las crudas realidades en las que su familia inrremediablemente se encuentra. Estas condiciones incluyen pobreza, marginalización social, desorientación cultural y violencia en el ámbito doméstico. Sin embargo, la novela no tiene una visión totalmente fatalista, ya que Young Ju será capaz de superar todas estas dificultades para construir un futuro mejor. En el presente trabajo trataré de demostrar que, en nuestro mundo global y multicultural, novelas como "A step from heaven" son necesarias para conseguir que los lectores jóvenes comprendan estas complejas y duras realidades sociales. Para cualquier niño o adolescente en condiciones similares, siempre será positivo encontrar libros cuyos protagonistas, como es el caso de Young Ju, les ofrezcan un ejemplo de fortaleza, valentía y optimismo.An Na’s A Step from Heaven (2002) is a coming of age novel that follows the emotional maturation of its protagonist, Young Ju, who migrated from Korea to the United States at the age of four. Through the heroine’s perspective, readers become involved in the grim conditions the family is forced to face, such as poverty, social marginalization, cultural dislocation and domestic violence. However, the novel avoids a totally tragic and fatalistic approach to its subject matter, since Young Ju is finally able to overcome all suffering and find the promise of a better future. As will be argued, novels such as A Step from Heaven tackle harsh and complex issues- widely present in today’s multicultural and globalized world — that need to be understood by young adults for them to grow awareness of these social realities. For children and adolescents in similar conditions, it is always reassuring to read books peopled with individuals who, as in the case of Na’s heroine, set a positive example of endurance, courage and optimism

Gender, sexuality and the ideology of the family in Ireland

In Ireland, the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 was followed by the institutionalisation of a deeply conservative notion of national identity, firmly sustained by Catholic and patriarchal values which were at odds with the personal rights of women and homosexuals. Described in the 1937 Constitution as “the natural, primary and fundamental unit group of society” (article 41.1), the traditional definition of family seems to have played an instrumental role in the promotion of a national ethos in the newly independent Republic (Brown 2004:152; Conrad 2004:10; Mullally 2005:85). Making use of a cultural and historical perspective, this article will discuss how defining family entails conflicts of interpretation as well as questions of legitimacy that relate to constitutional law and the accepted mores of society (Hodgson 1994:222; Martin 2005:18). This study is also informed by Judith Butler’s theorisation of the “performative”, which views gender as socially constructed. Likewise, the structural forms of legitimacy involving the family are fluid, thus keeping a correlation with current social values.En Irlanda, la creación del Estado Libre Irlandés en 1922 dio lugar a la institucionalización de una noción conservadora de identidad nacional, caracterizada por su enaltecimiento de valores patriarcales y católicos que menoscababan los derechos individuales de mujeres y homosexuales. La definición tradicional de familia, descrita en la Constitución Irlandesa de 1937 como unidad básica y pilar fundamental de la sociedad, parece haber desempeñado un papel esencial en el ensalzamiento de ciertos valores morales en la recién proclamada República (Brown 2004:152; Conrad 2004:10; Mullally 2005:85). Haciendo uso de una perspectiva histórica y cultural, el presente trabajo intentará explicar cómo el hecho de definir la familia necesariamente acarrea ciertos conflictos de interpretación relacionados con la legalidad y la aceptación pública de manifestaciones alternativas de familia (Hodgson 1994:222; Martin 2005:18). Este estudio remite también a la noción de “performatividad” de Judith Butler, que contempla la idea de género como un constructo social. Asimismo, la percepción general sobre qué es una familia varía según circunstancias sociales y discursos morales