VIOLENCE AND BIGOTRY: REGRESSIVE INNOVATION IN KEVIN BARRY’S CITY OF BOHANE

Abstract

Kevin Barry’s City of Bohane is one of the most celebrated recent works of Irish fiction. It is set in 2053, and tells the story of a people living in an environment of constant conflict where senseless acts of violence and bigotry are prevalent. This surprisingly negative imagining of Ireland in the future cannot be ignored considering the modern history of the country. The contemporary history of Ireland is fraught with a long and desperate struggle against the English Empire and its colonial forces as they tried for centuries to take over their neighboring island and completely colonize Ireland and its people. The English used two main weapons to further their goals in this matter: brutal military force and cultural sabotage. The cultural sabotage that the English brought to Ireland was mainly done by replacing Gaelic with English as the language of the Irish, and portraying them as culturally inferior and uncivilized in comparison to their English neighbors. Irish literature of the past few centuries has struggled to come to terms with this history of violence and dehumanization perpetuated by the English. Surprisingly, Kevin Barry in his novel callously repeats and escalates most of these negative stereotypes that have plagued Irish literature for years. The following study takes a closer look at the history of colonial violence and negative Irish stereotypes, and argues that City of Bohane is regressive in its depiction of Ireland as culturally ignorant and violent. That is to say, while the story is set four decades into the future, the author inexplicably insists on moving back in time to unearth and repurpose major colonial stereotypes that portray the Irish as uncivilized and backwards, to the great detriment of his innovative style and creative use of language in this novel.