Deconstructing and Re-mapping Irish Cartography:

Postcolonialism, Rhetoric, Gender, and Identity in Eavan Boland's "Colony"

愛爾蘭地圖的解構與重組：

伊凡•鮑倫的〈殖民地〉中後殖民主義、修辭、性別與身份認同之探討

Fang-Ying (Vivian) Liao / 廖芳瑩

 Abstract

 Table of Contents

 Thesis Outline

        Eavan Boland’s “Colony” explores an Irish woman poet’s identity loss in womanhood and authorship in the postcolonial Ireland and unveils the poet’s attempt to reconstruct her identity through exposing and deconstructing the dual colonial rhetoric mapped by England and by Irish patriarchal literary tradition in the conceptualization of national history, place, language, and gender.  “Colony” presents a dual colonialism imposed on an Irish woman poet—one by Imperial Britain, and the other by the Irish patriarchal literary system. The dual colonialism is constructed based on the cartographic rhetoric of mapping, including the stratagem of reinscription, enclosure, and hierarchization of space.  The reinscription of dichotic colonial rhetorical power leads to a confined and hierachized space that marginalizes and excludes the colonized. Consequently, the discursive map under the mechanism of cartographic rhetoric becomes a means of acquiring, maneuvering, and reinforcing colonial power. To deconstruct the hegemonic dual colonial map, Boland defines a postcolonial Irish identity as a fragmented, ambiguous, and even contradictory one.  Chapter one deals with the construction and deconstruction of the rhetoric of the English colonial mapping. Chapter two presents the colonial mapping of Irish patriarchal literary tradition from bardic poetry to nationalist poetic works, which dehumanizes womanhood into national symbols or into literary muses. Chapter three argues that Boland employs the poetics of absence, gap, fragmentation, and contradictions to reconstruct and yet twice denies the identity of a postcolonial Irish woman poet. The thesis concludes that Boland’s essentialist definition of a postcolonial Irish woman poet in “Colony” constitutes another colonial map.

中文摘要

        伊凡•鮑倫的〈殖民地〉以歷史、地方、語言、和性別觀點探討後殖民愛爾蘭女性詩人在對於女性身份和詩人身份認同的失落感，以及鮑倫意圖欲藉由揭露與瓦解英國與愛爾蘭父權文學傳統所加諸在女性詩人身上的雙重殖民版圖，重建愛爾蘭女性詩人身份地位。〈殖民地〉呈現加諸在愛爾蘭女性詩人的雙重殖民主義—這兩位殖民者一為大英帝國，另一為愛爾蘭父權文學傳統制度。此雙重的殖民主義建構在拓展殖民版圖的修辭，包括將充斥二元對立概念的殖民霸權施加在殖民版圖上，並且進一步封鎖殖民地，並利用階級化修辭將被殖民者驅逐於版圖之外。因此殖民版圖修辭成為一種奪取、操縱和鞏固殖民霸權的策略，在此殖民版圖上，像鮑倫僅能說英語的愛爾蘭女性詩人受到雙重的身份認同的否定，既不受到英國的認同，亦不受愛爾蘭父權文學傳統的接納，成為邊緣人。為了解構此雙重的殖民霸權版圖，鮑倫將後殖民愛爾蘭身份在〈殖民地〉中定義為破碎的、模糊的，甚至矛盾衝突的身份地位。第一章探討英國殖民版圖修辭的建構和解構，使愛爾蘭和英國身份認同定義疆界模糊。第二章則是闡述愛爾蘭父權文學傳統，從吟唱文學歷史到民族主義文學傳統，將女性詩人的意象物化以及扭曲為象徵國家、文學繆思或裝飾詩的符號，淪為殖民霸權，繪製了一個排除女性詩人的文學殖民版圖。第三章論述鮑倫運用缺失、破碎和矛盾的詩學當作為解構父權文學殖民版圖的修辭策略，然而卻同時再度否定而非重建愛爾蘭女性詩人的歷史地位。最後，本論文歸論，鮑倫對於將後殖民愛爾蘭女性詩人的身份設限一破碎而模糊矛盾的專獨的定位，亦是再度殖民女性詩人的歷史地位，因此，〈殖民地〉顯現鮑倫自己本身看不見的第三張殖民版圖。

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 Table of Contents

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I. Introduction

A. Postcolonial Identity

Eavan Boland is an Irish woman poet who was born in 1945 in Dublin but was educated in England because of her father’s job as a diplomat.  As critic Atfield states, Boland inherits a dual postcolonial identity as an Irish poet and a woman poet.  This dual identity is ambivalent in terms of Irish nationality and authorship.

1. The Ambivalence Of Irish Nationality

a. For

So far the legacy of Ireland’s postcoloniality has remained controversial because of its similarity to England in race, language, and value systems. Some critics assert that Ireland underwent a colonial experience after Henry II of England was decreed feudal lord of Ireland by Pople in 1172 and then after the accession of Henry VIII, who sent protestants to Ireland to colonize/ plant. With the end of civil war in 1923, Ireland’s colonial reached an end.  Therefore, Ireland has the legacy of colonialism. Moreover, the effect of English colonialism on Ireland constitutes the issue of postcolonialism. According to Said, the prefix “post” means “any consequence of colonial contact. Moreover, according to Bill Ashcraft’s introduction in Postcolonial Studies Reader, postcolonialism is “the discourse of oppositionality which colonialism brings into being.” In resistance to and as a consequence of English colonialism, Irish nationalism rises after the fall of Parnellian home rule in the nineteenth century. The revival of Irish culture and language in nationalism aims to define an Irish identity so that it is not assimilated by Englishness.

b. Against

However, some critics questions the legacy of Ireland’s postcoloniality. First, colonialism is initially limitedly defined as a European-centered discourse. Therefore, geographically situated in Europe, Ireland seems to placed in the “The First World” that colonize “The Third World.” Second, Ireland’s assimilation of English culture and language seems to make Ireland indistinguishable from England. Finally, the problematic political situation in Northern Ireland complicates the ambivalent relationship between Britain and Ireland. 

Consequently, it is difficult to essentialize the definition of an Irish identity, especially for Boland, who receives English education and writes poetry only in English.  When she was educated in London, Boland felt that her Irish identity made her displaced and alienated from England.  When she returned to Ireland the lost of mother tongue doubles her sense of displacement and exile in Ireland.

2. The Ambivalence Of Irish Authorship

In his book, Thomas Kinsella argues that Irish literature has a dual tradition, composed of both the English and Irish languages.  Therefore, in terms of language, Boland’s poetry written in English seems to qualify her to enter the Irish literary tradition.  However, Boland still feels excluded from the Irish literary tradition because it has so long been patriarchal since the bardic tradition that women poets have no place in it. The patriarchal hegemony of Irish literary tradition is epitomized by the first three volumes of Field Day Anthology of Irish literature, which include only male writers. Not until the publication of Field Day Anthology Volume IV and V in 2002 does the history of Irish women writers is included. In other words, before the publication of the last two volumes of Field Day Anthology, women poets are not acknowledged by the national tradition. Consequently, as a woman poet, Boland feels that her authorship is denied. Moreover, the nationalist rhetoric of nationalizing Irish womanhood also accounts for Boland’s alienation from the patriarchal poetic tradition because her womanhood is distorted and dehumanized.

B. Postcolonialism & Cartography

Consequently, Boland feels that her cultural identity as an Irish and her poetic identity as a woman poet are places colonized by English colonialism and by Irish literary patriarchy. For Boland, Postcolonialism, therefore, is a process of exposing the dual colonialism imposing on her in the conceptualization of cartography.  In Boland’s “That the Science of Cartography Is Limited” from In Time of Violence, the idea of cartography is related to the colonial mapping of both the British empire and the Irish patriarchal poetic tradition because both attempt to inscribe their power onto the space of Ireland discursively as an act of map-making. This metaphorical act of map-making is involved in the colonial power to manipulate because drawing a line to produce a space is a discursive act of creating confinement and defining the difference between the inside and the outside. This inscription of power and the hierarchization of space constitutes colonial rhetoric of exclusion.

C. Cartography & Rhetoric

A discursive map is produced through cartographic rhetoric, which represents a particular kind of view of reality to reinforce an essentialized view of the world.

       Boland’s “Colony” exposes a dual cartographic rhetoric. English colonialism is the first discursive map inscribed onto Ireland through an essentialized binary representation of the colonizer and the colonized.  In Chapter one, I’ll discuss the hegemonic dichotomist representation as cartographic rhetoric of English colonialism and its effect on a postcolonial Irish identity. Moreover, in asserting a pure and essentialist Irish identity to resist English colonialism, Irish nationalism in the literary tradition becomes another colonial map which colonizes Irish womanhood through the rhetoric of representing the nation as a woman and which colonizes the past of women poets by excluding their authorship. In Chapter two, I’ll explore how nationalism as the Irish tradition forms another map through cartographic rhetoric and its effect on the postcolonial identity of an Irish woman poet.  However, in an attempt to deconstructing the map of the patriarchal literary tradition and to remap the lost history of Irish women poets, Boland repeats a cartographic rhetoric of exclusion by mispresenting the reality of Irish women poets’ womanhood and authorship.  In Chapter 3, I’ll discuss how Boland’s reconstruction of the history of Irish women forms the third map inscribed on the poetic tradition.

D. Place And Identity And Language

II. Chapter One: Mapping And Demapping Of English Colonial Cartography

The loss of land as a major motif in “Colony” is not only a geographical loss of the nation but also a psychological loss of identity as a result of English colonial cartography. It can be perceived that he geographical map held by the English colonists becomes a discursive map. The geographical places are inherent with English colonial history.

A. The Cartographic Rhetoric Of English Colonialism

    English colonialism imposed on Ireland is represented by the geographical construct imposed on Ireland.

1. Inscription Of Colonial Power

2. Hierarchization—The Center/ The Margin, The Inside/ The Outside, The Superior/ The Inferior, Self/ Other, Subject/ Object, Human/ Nature, Masculine/ Feminine, Reason/ Mystery, Master/ Slave

3. Exclusion

B. The Effect Of English Colonialism On A Postcolonial Irish Identity

1. The Loss Of Irish Language

a. The Death Of The Bard—The Loss Of Irish Language And Identity

b. Dispossessed Identity Of Postcolonial Irish Poet As The Result Of The Loss Of Irishness, Represented By The Absence Of Home And Body Of The Bard

2. Loss Of Place—The Idea Of Place As An Index Of Loss” Rather Than As A Measure Of Identity

C. Deconstruction Of English Cartography—

1. Transience

2. Fluidity

3. Ambivalence

4. Alienation And Identification With Englishness—Description Of English Colonists

5. Ambiguity In The Relationship Between Postcolonial Conceptualization Between Place And Identity

6. Duality Of Language

7.Duality Of Place Names

III. Chapter Two: Mapping Irish nationalist Colonial Cartography

Irish poetic tradition is also an imposed hegemonic system that oppresses and excludes women poets.

A. The Patriarchal Irish Poetic Tradition As A Gendered Map

1. The Patriarchy Of Bardic Tradition—Gap Between Boland And The Literary Tradition Through The Discrepancy Of Tone, Sound, And Rhythm,

a. Detachment From And Identification With The Bardic Tradition

b. Influence Of Bardic Tradition On The Literary Techniques

c. Exclusion Of Women Poets

2. The Patriarchy Of Irish Nationalist Tradition—

a. Alienation From The Patriarchal Lineage

b. Iconic Representation Of Irish Womanhood

c. Distorted Representation Of Irish Womanhood

B. The Cartographic Rhetoric Of Irish Literary Tradition As Internal Colonization

1. Dehumanization

2. Idealization

3. Ornamentalization

4. Commodification

C. The Effect Of The Nationalist Cartographic Rhetoric On An Irish Woman Poet’s Sense Of Identity--Displaced, Fragmented, And Ambiguous Sense Of Identity

1. Absence Of Belonging

2. Displacement / Fragmentation Of Sense Of Identity

3. Ambiguity

IV. Chapter Three: Demapping Irish Literary Tradition And Remapping Irish Women Poets’ History

A. Deconstructing Irish Literary Tradition

1. Binary Oppositions In The Colonial Rhetoric Of Irish Literary Tradition

2. Deconstructing Binary Cartographic Rhetoric

a. Subject / Object

b. Light / Darkness

c. Voice / Silence

d. Art / Nature

e. Fixity / Fluidity

f. Life / Death

B. Boland’s Cartographic Rhetoric To Remap Irish Women’s History—Revisionist Cartography Of Irish Literary Tradition Through Rhetoric Of Ambiguity And Contradiction

1. Rhetoric Of Ambiguity—The Hotel Manager—Human Nature, Closer To Reality, Vulnerability:

Influence Of And Departure From The Literary Tradition—Joyce

2. Rhetoric Of Gaps—Exposing The Flaws Of Literary History

Geographical, Psychological, And Linguistic

3. Rhetoric Of Fragmentation In

a. Language

b. Literary Tradition (Gender)—Father Daughter Relationship

c. The Definition Of Irishness

d. Womanhood

e. Authorship

C. Boland’s Cartographic Rhetoric To Remap Women Poets’ Past As Another Colonialism

1. Exclusion Of Irish Womanhood And Authorship (Gap)

2. Reproduction Of Gendered Cartographic Rhetoric

3. Essentialization Of The “Truth” Of Irish Women Poets’ History

V. Conclusion

A. Three Maps

B. The Nature Of Postcolonial Map And Identity

C. Question On Boland’s Awareness Of Her Complicity In Colonial Map-Making

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