History Writing In Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture

The Secret Scripture is a representative work by contemporary Irish writer Sebastian Barry.Set in Sligo,the west of Ireland from the time of Irish civil war to the present,this novel presents the miserable and tragic stories of a Presbyterian family which is marginalized in official narratives in the twentieth-century Ireland.In this novel,the marginalized old woman Roseanne writes her past stories and her psychologist Dr Grene searches for what really happened to her by comparing Fr Gaunt’s narratives with her own records.In their interrelated history writings,many social and historical problems in Ireland are disclosed.Previous studies on this novel are few and mainly concerned with categorizing it into fictional life writing genre and a new trend of literary works focusing on the old people,and discussing the relationship between memory and history.As the novel is presented In the way of characters’ history writing,and consists of their frequent reflections on history and history writing,this thesis analyzes The Secret Scripture in the Irish context,with a focus on the function of history writing in this novel.With the help of "textuality of history" and "historicity of text" and trauma curing theories,this thesis explores the subverting and redeeming functions of history writing in this novel.This thesis finds that though the objectivity and certainty of Fr Gaunt’s history writing are challenged and doubted,the significance of history writing in tracing back and redeeming submerged histories is affirmed.What’s more,though their history writings serve to disclose and subvert detrimental power relations,they also serve to redeem the people who are traumatized by those harmful power relations.Besides,Roseanne’s final reconciliation with her past shows a possibility of Ireland’s reconciliation with its historical burden by acknowledging and respecting its history and solving historical problems.The seemingly contradictory subversions and redemptions indicate that this novel,on the one hand,presents the difficulties in history writing and the problems in Irish history,on the other hand,tries to redeem the lost histories and suggest ways to solve those historical problems.This thesis argues that history writing in this novel serves as a way to subvert Fr Gaunt’s narrative and present the difficulties in history writing,and to subvert power relations in the early twentieth century.Besides,it also serves as a way to redeem the submerged histories and the people traumatized by the detrimental power relations,and suggest ways to relieve the history-burdened Ireland.This thesis consists of four parts.The first part gives a brief introduction to Sebastian Barry and The Secret Scripture,its related historical background,literature review,thesis statement,the organization of the thesis,and related critical theories.The second part presents the subverting function of history writing towards Fr Gaunt’s narrative,and the detrimental power relations in the early twentieth-century Ireland.The third part explores the redeeming function of history writing:how history writing redeems the submerged histories,the traumatized people and history-burdened Ireland.The last part is the conclusion that history writing is not just a narrative method to present the content of this novel,but also functions to present the theme of this novel:subversion and redemption.