Two 1916s: Sebastian Barry’s A Long Long Way

Allison Haas

doi:10.3390/h8010060

Abstract

As Paul Fussell has shown, the First World War was a watershed moment for 20th century British history and culture. While the role of the 36th (Ulster) Division in the Battle of the Somme has become a part of unionist iconography in what is now Northern Ireland, the experience of southern or nationalist Irish soldiers in the war remains underrepresented. Sebastian Barry’s 2005 novel, A Long Long Way is one attempt to correct this historical imbalance. This article will examine how Barry represents the relationship between the First World War and the 1916 Easter Rising through the eyes of his politically-conflicted protagonist, Willie Dunne. While the novel at first seems to present a common war experience as a means of healing political divisions between Ireland and Britain, this solution ultimately proves untenable. By the end of the novel, Willie’s hybrid English–Irish identity makes him an outcast in both places, even as he increasingly begins to identify with the Irish nationalist cause. Unlike some of Barry’s other novels, A Long Long Way does not present a disillusioned version of the early 20th century Irish nationalism. Instead, Willie sympathizes with the rebels, and Barry ultimately argues for a more inclusive Irish national identity.

Highlights

More than 8.5 million soldiers died in the First World War, and almost 50,000 of them wereIrish (Ferriter 2004, p. 388)
Unlike some of Barry’s other novels, A Long Long Way does not present a disillusioned version of the early 20th century Irish nationalism
The war had profound political consequences: “it temporarily defused the Ulster situation; it put Home Rule on ice; it altered the conditions of military crisis in Ireland at a stroke; and it created the rationale for an IRB

Summary

Introduction

More than 8.5 million soldiers died in the First World War, and almost 50,000 of them were. The Easter Rising became a foundational event in most histories of Ireland, but the significance of the First World War to 20th century Irish history is frequently overlooked. Somme was contained widely praised its depiction the Irish(Fitzpatrick unionist soldiers of the These Irish divisions were involved in some of the most famous and bloody battles of the war. It is hard not to see his literary project as related, in the sense that his novels seek to fill in the gaps—those “missing threads”—of Irish history Barry consistently frames his goal in telling these stories as a personal one but, he cannot avoid the political implications of interpreting history. In general, Barry’s progressive humanist politics and well-crafted literary stylings mean that he is generally embraced by the Irish establishment: so much so, that in 2018 he was appointed as the Republic of Ireland’s second-ever Laureate for Irish Fiction (Doyle 2018)

A Long Long Way

Conflicting and Converging Identities

An Inclusive Nationalism