Rewriting the western: Transnational dimensions and gender fluidity in sebastian barry’s days without end

Abstract

espanoll presente articulo explora la lectura transnacional que el autor irlandes Sebastian Barry realiza del Oeste norteamericano en su novela Days without End (2016), haciendo hincapie en su representacion de temas y realidades del Oeste tradicionalmente relegados al olvido y en su revision de los tropos y arquetipos del “western”. A la hora de retratar el Oeste en Days without End, Barry va mas alla del imaginario regional y nacional de este territorio, mostrando sus caracteristicas internacionales e hibridas y sus culturas multiples y superpuestas. Se argumenta que la recreacion de Barry de una realidad diferente al tradicional monomito “western” de masculinidad, individualismo y conquista anglo-americana, le permite cuestionar las narraciones clasicas de la frontera y abordar asuntos internacionales y transculturales, como la fluidez de genero. La novela, cuyo principal protagonista y narrador es un irlandes pobre y homosexual, muestra un Oeste diferente, poniendo en cuestion las versiones romanticas de la expansion hacia el Oeste y trazando interesantes conexiones entre los inmigrantes irlandeses en esta region y los nativo-americanos. En conjunto, Days without End puede considerarse como un retrato agudo de la dimension transnacional del Oeste americano, mostrando el poder del “western” para superar los tradicionales limites del mito y del genero o formula y viajar a traves de espacios globales EnglishThe present essay will explore the Irish writer Sebastian Barry’s transnational rendering of the American West in his novel Days without End (2016), emphasizing his representation of neglected western questions and realities and his revision of traditional western tropes and archetypes. Barry’s approach to the American West in Days without End moves beyond the regional and national imagery of this territory, revealing its international and hybrid properties and its multiple and overlapping cultures. It is argued that Barry’s recreation of a different reality from the traditional western monomyth of masculinity, individualism, and Anglo-American conquest allows him to challenge classical frontier narratives and to address international and transcultural issues, such as gender fluidity. The novel, whose main protagonist and narrator is a poor, homosexual Irish immigrant, embraces a different West, questioning romanticized versions of the westward expansion and drawing interesting connections between the Irish immigrants in this region and the Native Americans. Overall, Days without End may be viewed as an acute depiction of the transnational dimension of the American West, proving the power of the Western to overcome its traditional formulaic and mythic boundaries and to travel across global spaces