Shooting the Faithful Departed : Writing the world into Ireland and Ireland into the world

Dolley, Margaret and Ashworth, Jenn (2024) Shooting the Faithful Departed : Writing the world into Ireland and Ireland into the world. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

Text (2024dolleyphd)
2024dolleyphd.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to Repository staff only until 11 September 2029.
Download (2MB)

Abstract

This thesis is in two parts. First I present a polyphonic novel, Shooting the Faithful Departed, exploring the competing claims to a derelict house on an Irish island set out by four people attending a gathering of descendants, when they are trapped together inside the property as a storm prolongs their stay. In the subsequent exegesis, I set out how I have used concepts of place and space as a source of inspiration and driver of plot, characterization and voice. Moving from the intimate and concrete domestic space – in the form of my abandoned house – that is a familiar trope in Irish literature, I explore concepts of ‘no space’; the real and imagined spaces of the diaspora; and the narrative opportunities of interaction between different time zones in the internet era. I interrogate focalising techniques that might best represent a diverse transnational cast, explore the dialectic between source country and diaspora, and consider what constitutes ownership and belonging, as well as how claims to a property can crystallise the commodification of Irishness. In considering entitlement to property, I suggest that human claims may be need to be modified by environmental factors in the age of the Anthropocene. People face particular challenges in creating belief systems when they have two or more cultures to draw from, especially when dealing with grief, death, loss or absence. In a postcolonial tradition like Ireland’s that is long marked by haunting, I show how the wider virtual space around a dwelling may become a place for returnees from the diaspora, as well as people in the ‘home’ country, to gather in and reconcile with their dead. There may be particular relevance when family members have lost their lives while travelling for economic reasons such as lack of work or land, and when their physical remains have not received a formal committal. Acquiring a measure of agency through the device of haunting may enable the survivors to come to terms with the past and negotiate their own future.