Abstract
ABSTRACTKevin Barry's novel, City of Bohane, presents the west coast of Ireland gripped in the hyper-violence of a dystopian urban future. This article argues that the novel's power structures, seemingly redolent of unrepentant brutality, epitomise an excessive melancholy; a failure of mourning that causes the city and its inhabitants to stagnate in aggressive, nostalgic desire. Relations to the past, to the self, the desired other and power in City of Bohane are inextricable from discourses of melancholic loss, lack, identification, gender, violence and the fetish, and by reading Barry's work through Freud's, Agamben's, Žižek's and Butler's theorisations of the melancholy, we explore the tensions between desire, loss and black bile.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
