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218 LITERATÛRZINÂTNE, FOLKLORISTIKA, MÂKSLA Shrewdness in Aunt Martha in Mothers finds its expression in her voice. The narrator “noticed her weird accent. She nearly didn’t sound Irish at all.” 29 It may be argued that Ireland as a space is directly associated with the past. In order to move onward into the future one needs to come to terms with it. Being cut off presents a negative state of existence, and, first of all, it is expressed through the loss of ‘Irishness’. Far from the original habitat, sense of belonging acquires additional significance. This feeling may be effectuated not only through the land; if habitation is problematized, communal spirit, family values, which are traditionally important for the Irish people, take a double load. In this connection, Camus claims that the only luxury which is left for people in the absurd world is human relationships. 30 In The Long Way Home “running away from the wife” is equated to “running away from reality,” 31 being lost in the yellow mist proves to be a natural outcome of or punishment for leaving one’s family. No less natural seems the decision of the hero, Ray Priest, to come back home in the end. Ray’s final epiphany gives an insight into the complex notion of love. Ray Priest clung to his wife’s body. As he drifted into sleep, he began to see things clearly. He thought about his night, about the loneliness of a man who finds that he has to run from love. And he knew in those moments that love is not always about freedom. He could see it then, with the clarity that only half–sleep brings. He could see that love is often just a homecoming, and little more. And that the journey home of the heart is sometimes the longest of all. 32 The story under the title Sink is less explicit; it serves as a metaphor of the inability, unwillingness to accept loneliness. Freedom of the Press highly praises the stability that only family can provide with in this unstable ever–changing world. In the story The Bedouin Feast the author has transferred the action to Tunisia. Although the narrative space is not problematic, the situation illustrates the old truth that “holidays…bring out the worst in people.” 33 All the controversy about the general recognition of the independent Republic of Ireland is brought along. “In this century, of course, the disjuncture has become more extreme, with the division between Ulster and Eire, one assertively within ‘the United Kingdom’, the other an independent state.” 34 The notions of ‘Ireland’ and ‘Irish’ are not commonly separated from ‘British’ or sometimes ‘English’; it is necessary to explain that Dublin is not a part of Britain, and “that the Republic was actually a separate country.” 35 Joseph, as the central character, is an ideal type to bring the conflict into existence. His quick temper, lack of self–control and excessive drinking (all the features belonging to the stereotypical comic vision of an Irishman in literature) serve as a constant provocation. The problematic relationships between the Irish and English tourists are shown through a number of clichés: open accusations like “murderers” vs “savages”, strategy of nicknaming “Brit” vs “Paddy” witness strong resentment on both sides. “Strange how it all comes down to words, in the end.” 36 This line is from The Hills Are Alive which could be called a Belfast Romeo and Juliet story if it were not so queer. In fact it is about gay love between an IRA volunteer, Danny Sullivan, and
Tatjana Bicjutko. Dþ. Konora jaunie dublinieði: Îrijas literârâs tradîcijas pçctecîba 219 a squaddy, Private Henry Wood. A strange relationship in a strange world where one remembers his first mission rather than “a first day in school. A first trip to the dentist maybe. A first kiss.” 37 A world where the only distinction of importance is whether you are “one of us or one of them.” 38 Everyone is made to take sides, but considers it “all a matter of free will and history.” 39 The deviation from traditional sexuality here leads to questioning of all other relationships and disruption of ‘official’ narratives. The narrators grow more mature towards the end of the story collection, although the fact finds its expression not through the age of the narrator. The essential indication is reaction to the events which ranges from the less responsible to the more “adult’ one. For example, in Mothers, the narrator facing the harsh reality and feeling his inability to cope with it, expresses the unconscious wish to return into the state of the embryo: I went to bed and stared at the ceiling. I wrapped the blanket tight around me. Really tight. Over my head. So tight that it felt like a second skin. And the whole world was shut out now, on the other side of the darkness. 40 In the last story True Believers, despite the young age, the narrator outgrows his father. And this was also the night that God died in my life. I found myself in a new world, into which death had come, a world in which death was now a possibility, and a fact which seemed to change the way I saw everything, in an instant of time... 41 On the whole, the story mentioned above and The Greatest of These is Love are the most powerful and serve as a culmination point for this seemingly disunited collection. Since The Greatest of These is Love is about a Catholic Irish priest in London, naturally the Bible again makes an appearance, this time introduced by one of the most powerful and explicit Love Chapter, called so because of its influential description of love. In the context of the book the content of this sermon is a direct answer to the main question, namely, what it means to be a true believer, what is necessary ‘to bear all things’. Love does not prevent sufferings, rather multiplies them, for “things don’t get any easier, no matter what people believe.” 42 At the same time love gives purpose, the pivotal point for one’s mind in this world full of absurdity. REFERENCES 1 Hand D. The Future of Contemporary Irish Fiction, www.writerscentre.ie/anthology/ dhand.html 2 Ibid. 3 Êàìþ À. Ìèô î Ñèçèôå. Áóíòóþùèé ÷åëîâåê. Ïîïóððè. – Ìèíñê, 2000, p. 33. 4 Joyce J. Dubliners, Wordsworth Classics. – Hertfordshire, 2001, p. 160.
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