Representations of Irish Identity and the Easter Rising in Sebastian Barry's Ancestors Cycle
Kristi Good
Abstract
Among his other literature and poetry, Sebastian Barry has written eleven plays and novels, collectively titled here for the first time as the Ancestors Cycle, that specifically tackle the expression of Irish identity via his own genealogy. Barry addresses this issue of Irishness through the creation of characters who are based on his historical ancestors, particularly individuals who have been selectively silenced for their failure to adhere to political and societal norms deemed appropriate for the historical narrative of Ireland and, thus, a traditional definition of Irishness. In the novel A Long Long Way and the play White Woman Street, Barry examines the event of the 1916 Easter Rising—the start of the Irish War of Independence—through a variety of lenses: the genres of novel and drama, the stylistic tools of the literal and the symbolic, and the subject matter of political difference within his own family. The culmination of these elements offers a complex reading of the Easter Rising and the individuals involved, whether directly or symbolically, and challenges an audience to question the fraught definition of Irishness attached to this historical moment.
Among his other literature and poetry, Sebastian Barry has written eleven plays and novels, collectively titled here for the first time as the Ancestors Cycle, that specifically tackle the expression of Irish identity via his own genealogy. Barry addresses this issue of Irishness through the creation of characters who are based on his historical ancestors, particularly individuals who have been selectively silenced for their failure to adhere to political and societal norms deemed appropriate for the historical narrative of Ireland and, thus, a traditional definition of Irishness. In the novel A Long Long Way and the play White Woman Street, Barry examines the event of the 1916 Easter Rising—the start of the Irish War of Independence—through a variety of lenses: the genres of novel and drama, the stylistic tools of the literal and the symbolic, and the subject matter of political difference within his own family. The culmination of these elements offers a complex reading of the Easter Rising and the individuals involved, whether directly or symbolically, and challenges an audience to question the fraught definition of Irishness attached to this historical moment.
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