“A right kind of rogue”: Lisa McInerney’s The Glorious Heresies (2015) and The Blood Miracles (2017)

• Authors: Katarzyna Ostalska
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The following article analyzes two novels, published recently by a new, powerful voice in Irish fiction, Lisa McInerney: her critically acclaimed debut The Glorious Heresies (2015) and its continuation The Blood Miracles (2017). McInerney’s works can be distinguished by the crucial qualities of the Irish Noir genre. The Glorious Heresies and The Blood Miracles are presented from the perspective of a middle-aged “right-rogue” heroine, Maureen Phelan. Due to her violent and law-breaking revenge activities, such as burning down the institutions signifying Irishwomen’s oppression (i.e. the church and a former brothel) and committing an involuntary murder, Maureen remains a multi-dimensional rogue character, not easily definable or even identifiable. The focal character’s narrative operates around the abuse of unmarried, young Irish mothers of previous generations who were coerced to give up their “illegitimate” children for adoption and led a solitary existence away from them. The article examines other “options” available to “fallen women” (especially unmarried mothers) in Ireland in the mid-twenty century, such as the Magdalene Laundries based on female slave work, and sending children born “out of wedlock” abroad, or to Mother and Baby Homes with high death-rates. Maureen’s rage and her need for retaliation speak for Irish women who, due to the Church-governed moral code, were held in contempt both by their families and religious authorities. As a representative of the Irish noir genre, McInerney’s fiction depicts the narrative of “rogue” Irish motherhood in a non-apologetic, ironic, irreverent and vengeful manner.

Keywords

EN

Lisa McInerney; Irish noir fiction; motherhood; Magdalene Laundries; the adoption discourse; the rogue discourse

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture
• Year: 2019
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 237-258

Dates

published

2019-11-23

Contributors

author

Katarzyna Ostalska

• University of Łódź

References

• Burke Brogan, Patricia. “The Magdalene Experience.” Motherhood in Ireland. Ed. Patricia Kennedy. Dublin: Mercier, 2004. 160–69. Print.
• Conway, Eileen. “Motherhood Interrupted: Adoption in Ireland.” Motherhood in Ireland. Ed. Patricia Kennedy. Dublin: Mercier, 2004. 181–93. Print.
• Cooper, Rachel. “The Forgotten Women of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.” Telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph 4 Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Jun. 2018.
• Daly, Clare. Foreword. The Adoption Machine: The Dark History of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes and the Inside Story of How “Tuam 800” Became a Global Scandal. By Paul Jude Redmond. Newbridge: Merrion, 2018. Kindle Edition.
• Doyle, Martin. “The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney in Irish Times Book Club.” Irishtimes.com. The Irish Times 1 Mar. 2016. Web. 15 Jun. 2018.
• Hilliard, Betty. “Motherhood, Sexuality and the Catholic Church.” Motherhood in Ireland. Ed. Patricia Kennedy. Dublin: Mercier, 2004. 139–59. Print.
• Killeen, Jarlath. “How Celtic Tiger’s Death Led to a Gothic Revival.” Irishtimes.com. The Irish Times 28 Apr. 2017. Web. 2 Jul. 2019.
• Leane, Maire, and Elizabeth Kiely. “Single Lone Motherhood-Reality Versus Rhetoric.” Women and Irish Society: A Sociological Reader. Ed. Anne Byrne and Madeleine Leonard. Dublin: Colour, 1997. 296–310. Print.
• Lloyd-Roberts, Sue. “Demanding Justice for Women and Children Abused by Irish Nuns.” Churchandstate.org.uk. BBC News Ireland 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Jun. 2018.
• Mannion, Elizabeth. “Introduction: A Path to Emerald Noir: The Rise of the Irish Detective Novel.” The Contemporary Irish Detective Novel. Ed. Elizabeth Mannion. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 1–16. Print.
• McCarthy, Rebecca Lea. Origins of Magdalene Laundries: An Analytical History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010. Print.
• McInerney, Lisa. “Lisa McInerney on Cork: ‘If cities have characters then this one’s a brilliant brat.” Theguardian.com. Guardian 10 Mar. 2018. Web. 15 Jun. 2018.
• McInerney, Lisa. The Blood Miracles. London: John Murray, 2018. Print.
• McInerney, Lisa. The Glorious Heresies. London: John Murray, 2016. Print.
• Milotte, Mike. Banished Babies: The Secret History of Ireland’s Baby Export Business. Dublin: New Island, 2012. Kindle edition.
• Peterson, Shirley. “Voicing the Unspeakable: Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad.” The Contemporary Irish Detective Novel. Ed. Elizabeth Mannion. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 107–20. Print.
• Power, C. Patrick. Sex and Marriage in Ancient Ireland. Dublin: Mercier, 1997. Print.
• Purdy, Alicia. “The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways: 9 Misquoted Bible Passages.” Desertnews.com. Desert News Faith. Web. 15 Jun. 2018.
• Raftery, Mary. “Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries Scandal Must Be Laid to Rest.” Theguardian.com. The Guardian 8 Jun. 2011. Web. 15 Jun. 2018.
• Redmond, Paul Jude. The Adoption Machine: The Dark History of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes and the Inside Story of How “Tuam 800” Became a Global Scandal. Newbridge: Merrion, 2018. Kindle Edition.
• Reilly, Gavan. “In Their Own Words: Survivors’ Accounts of Life Inside a Magdalene Laundry.” Thejournal.ie. TheJournal.ie 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Jun. 2018.
• “Sentence First: An Irishman’s Blog about English Language.” Stancarey. wordpress.com. Web. 15 Jun. 2018.
• Smith, James. Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries and the Nation’s Architecture of Confinement. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2007. Print.
• “St. Josephine Bakhita.” Catholic.org. Catholic Online. Web. 15 Jun. 2018.
• Valiulis, Maryann Gianella. “Women in the Irish State, 1922–1939: The Interaction Between Economics and Ideology.” Irish Women’s Voices: Past and Present. Journal of Women’s History 6.4 (Winter/Spring 1995): 117–36. Print.
• Wells, J. C. Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1982. Print.

Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/2083-2931.09.15