A “New Irish Woman” Emerges: Subverting Femininity in Maeve Kelly’s A Life of Her Own

Abstract

Abstract. Women in Irish fiction have been largely the creation of male writers, and the embodiment of religious virtues such as purity and passivity, conventionally regarded as "feminine." Not only the Roman Catholic Church but also the State progressively contributed to the social construct of Irish womanhood as inferior and, above all, domestic. From the 1960s onwards many women writers have tried relentlessly to reimage women in their fiction. Feminist activist Maeve Kelly is an outstanding example of such writers whose work remains virtually unexplored. Very often Kelly's protagonists are women in their conventional roles as wives and mothers who struggle for happiness and independence. This essay focuses on her collected stories A Life of Her Own (1976), and particularly on her short story "The vain woman," in which Kelly presents us with a "new Irish woman" who is no longer the personification of the Virgin Mary, and who actively rebels against her environment. Key Words. Irish Feminism, Irish Short Story, Maeve Kelly, Empowerment, Rebellious Women Resumen. Las mujeres en la ficcion irlandesa han sido en gran medida creadas por escritores varones, encarnando virtudes religiosas tales como la pureza y la pasividad, convencionalmente consideradas como "femeninas." No solo la Iglesia catolica sino tambien el Estado contribuyeron progresivamente a la construction social de la feminidad irlandesa como inferior y, sobre todo, domestica. Desde la decada de 1960 en adelante muchas escritoras han intentado implacablemente cambiar esta imagen de la mujer en su ficcion. La activista feminista Maeve Kelly es un ejemplo sobresaliente de estas escritoras cuya obra se encuentra practicamente inexplorada. Normalmente, las protagonistas de las historia de Kelly son mujeres que desempenan su rol tradicional como esposas y madres y que luchan por la felicidad y la independencia. Este ensayo se centra en su coleccion de relatos A Life of Her Own (1976), y en particular "The vain woman," en el que Kelly nos presenta una "nueva mujer irlandesa" que se aleja de la personification de la Virgen Maria y que se rebela activamente contra su entorno. Palabras clave. Feminismo irlandes, relato corto irlandes, Maeve Kelly, empoderamiento, mujeres rebeldes Introduction: Constructing and De-constructing Irish Womanhood Women in Ireland have been traditionally associated with frailty and passivity, qualities that have been also linked to the nation itself. Ireland has often been represented as a woman in both song and literature, following a tradition that can be traced back to eighteenth-century Gaelic poetry. In colonial times, Ireland was portrayed as a woman victimised by the colonising English male, leading womanhood to be associated with inferiority and weakness. (1) Throughout the 19th century, Irish nationalists continued to identify their country as "feminine." Ireland became Kathleen Ni Houlihan, Mother Ireland, Sean-Bhean Bhocht, Dark Rosaleen, or the Poor old Woman; a woman who needed the help of young Irish men willing to fight and sacrifice themselves to free Ireland from colonial rule. Besides, the Devotional Revolution of the mid-19th-century added the cult of the Virgin Mary, and Ireland and Irish women became the embodiment of purity (Igman 2007: 7). The construction of Catholic womanhood drew on the Bible as well as on a series of Papal encyclicals--as noticed by Beaumont (1997), or Tighe-Mooney (2011). Encyclicals such as Rerum Novarum (1891), Quadragesimo Anno (1931) or Casti Connubii (1930) elaborated on the "natural" role of women. They posited that women should be confined to the domestic sphere and stressed the sanctity of marriage and the prohibition of artificial birth control and of abortion. The Church's glorification of women's domesticity permeated the legislation of the Irish Free State. The State intruded into private family life with the banning of divorce and artificial birth control, and consolidated the public image of Irish femininity as wife and mother in the 1937 De Valera's Constitution. …