Introduction

Construction of Identity in Northern Irish Novels 195
spectivity and ambiguous identities allow the authors to create possible images of
the “New Irish” the Catholic Jake Jackson from Eureka Street is dreaming of:
In my early years, I had often hoped that the future would be different.
That from out of the dark mists of Ireland’s past and present a new breed
would arise. The New Irish. When all the old creeds and permutations in
people would be contradicted. We would see the Loyalist Catholic. The liberal
Protestant. The honest politician. The intelligent poet. But, as I sat and
listened to my workmates, I decided I wasn’t going to hold my hand in my
arse waiting for any Utopia (McLiam Wilson 164).
As intoxicating and tempting Jake’s vision may sound, its ironic undertone suggests
that there is still a long way to go to achieve it.
In order to discuss what exactly has changed in Northern Irish identity in recent
years it becomes necessary to throw a glance into the past and thus on postcolonial
aspects as well as the loss of the native language. Also contemporary aspects
such as living in a both divided and violent city as Belfast must be taken into
account. Important questions will be how society is depicted in the novels and
what changes concerning identity issues have taken place. In how far does a new
intelligentsia play a decisive factor for contemporary Northern Irish society? How
do Protestants and Catholics interact and how do they form an identity in contrast
or in unison with each other? What kind of images of the New Irish do the authors
propose? Is the current peace a final peace? This paper thus tries to show
how Northern Irish identity is made up, by what it has been influenced as well as
how the characters in the novels are depicted in contrast to stereotypical assumptions
of the Northern Irish resident that is often linked to IRA 2 or UVF 3 propaganda.
2. Language Matters in Northern Ireland
The investigation of language in relationship to identity is a wide field that would
exceed the scope of this paper. In the following only a few aspects of language
and ethnic consciousness are therefore discussed. The loss of the Irish language or
rather the absence of it will be foregrounded as only very few native speakers of
Irish can be found in Northern Ireland today. Still, Irish has a special meaning to
those who are capable of speaking or understanding it. The inspection of language
2 The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was established in 1919 as a descendant from the Irish Volunteers
that had been created in 1913 and had been involved in the Easter Rising in 1916. Its
goal was the achievement of an independent Ireland. Although this was also pursued by the
Irish nationalist party Sinn Féin the IRA acted independently from them (Britannica 386).
3 The Ulster Volunteer Force was founded in 1966 in opposition to the IRA. Its name was taken
from a Protestant loyal organisation which at the beginning of the twentieth century had successfully
resisted Home Rule (Britannica 117).