Introduction

Melanie Swiatloch
The Construction of Identity in Northern Ireland
Hybrid States, Nationalism, and Images of Violence in
Contemporary Northern Irish Novels
1. Introduction
And the battle’s just begun
There’s many lost but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers,
sisters torn apart
“Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2 (1983)
Thirty-eight years after what became known as the Bloody Sunday Great Britain’s
Prime Minister David Cameron made a formal apology for the killings of fourteen
demonstrators in Derry 1. His apology was grounded on the results of the Saville
1 Nationalists rather refer to the city as Derry while unionists prefer to call it Londonderry.
Throughout this paper the shorter form Derry is used, which is not supposed to take a political
stand, however. See also note 36 in this paper (p. 254).