Chapter 7 (De)construction of the Monstrous in Contemporary Northern Irish Troubles Fiction
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Abstract
The modern Northern Irish conflict, euphemistically known as the Troubles, has attracted the attention of the media, politicians, anthropologists, social commentators, community groups and others interested in conflict and reconciliation studies. Questions concerning the origins of the conflict and its management have been the subject matter of numerous treatises and publications. These issues have also informed many works of art, including fiction.a The resultant Troubles novels are fictional representations of the problematic; however, they offer an invaluable source of information on perceptions and evaluations of the conflict. They depict the social and cultural context in which it is embedded. The number of sub-genres and narrative approaches employed in Troubles novels is vast. Nevertheless, concepts exist which manage to capture the causes of the conflict as well as of its endurance and resolution at the same time. One such concept is the myth of a wild man. It offers a critical reflection of Western humanity, manifesting how Western civilisations developed their identities in relation to ‘the other’. The Troubles are often explained as a conflict of perceived inter-communal differences; the myth of a wild man thus presents an apposite lens through which to examine the selected works. The critical reading that follows will discuss what the novels convey about the concept to illustrate that the texts seek to challenge hegemonic, monologic discourse of monsterisation, and that they champion the ethics of the other instead.
a It has been estimated that eight hundred novels that deal with the Northern Irish predicament have been published to date. See, Maev Kennedy, ‘The Trouble with Fictional Troubles,’ The Guardian, 2 June, 2005. However, an official comprehensive publishing statistics concerning Troubles fiction covering the period from the beginning of the conflict until today has yet to be issued.