Sexuality, Sickness, Silence: The Gay Man in Contemporary Irish Narrative

Abstract

This paper investigates representations of male homosexuality in contemporary Irish narratives, exploring the progression of homosexuality in Ireland as it has moved from a suppressed crime to a confidently asserted identity. Does inclusion of homosexuality in narrative need to subscribe to explicit, "in-your-face" foregrounding in order to be important to that narrative? Does a gay voice in contemporary Irish narrative have to be the loudest in order to signify assetion of the homosexual identity? Must gay artists bear the burden of the oppressive past in addressing homosexuality in their work, or is it unfair to place such categorizations and restrictions on art? These questions are addressed through the cultural and historical context of homosexuality in Ireland, looking at three different contemporary Irish narratives that feature homosexuality: Colm Toibin's The Blackwater Lightship, Keith Ridgway's The Long Falling, and Neil Jordan's film The Crying Game.