Introduction

Construction of Identity in Northern Irish Novels 257
captivating atmosphere and an “irresistible ‘fatal attraction’”, as Pelaschiar calls it,
and she concludes that “the writers from the North seem to show symptoms both
of topophobia and of topophilia”, a love-hate relationship to Northern Ireland
(122). That all of Jake’s friends have returned to the city confirms the magnetism
of it. Even strangers are somehow spellbound by it as in case of Steve. Luckily the
return or visit to Belfast is for none of the characters actually fatal. They all seem
to be drawn by the innate pain the city conveys, though. Chuckie’s girlfriend Max,
for instance, has lost her father in Belfast. As a negotiator who “persuaded people
in foreign countries not to kill each other” (McLiam Wilson 120) he was killed by
Protestant and Catholic paramilitaries after being only twenty minutes in Belfast.
A new interesting statement enters the novel: “The IRA and the UVF both
claimed responsibility. An American newscaster told the camera that [Max’s] father
had been executed because he was too good at his job. The Irish didn’t want
him persuading them away from their war. The Irish liked their war” (ibid. 122).
As the city is every now and then depicted in quite positive pictures – whereas
the countryside is always connected to happy remembrances – one can assume
that the city is not bad by itself. It is made a bad place by the people living there.
Once sectarian issues have been solved Belfast, or even Derry, also has the potential
to become a likeable place again. First signs thereof are already there. The
positive feelings Jake and Saoirse sometimes have when looking at Belfast are
again signs of ‘New Irish’ beginnings. At times it even seems as if the city wanted
to tell its citizens that the times of war were over and that it was time for a change.
“In Belfast, in all cities, it is always present tense and all the streets are Poetry
Streets” (McLiam Wilson 217), it is said in Eureka Street. Indeed, the city waits for
its people to make something out of it. This can turn into a disturbing poem in
modernist style but also into a love poem.
4.3. A Sectarian Society – The Significance of Religion
“For there they stood, Pope and Chuckie, arms
still outstretched towards one another, a whisky
bottle in the Pope’s hand, a glass in Chuckie’s.”
Eureka Street, Robert McLiam Wilson
(1996, 35)
This quotation taken from Eureka Street deals with Protestant Chuckie Lurgan –
whose clan “had historically loved fame” (McLiam Wilson 26) – who is depicted
in a painting together with the Pope. Originally a photo taken of a crowd of people
surrounding the Pope during one of his visits to Belfast, a friend of Chuckie’s,
Dex, “an alcoholic one-time commercial artist” (ibid. 32), has redesigned the picture
to show only what is important to Chuckie: him and a famous person. That