There is a long tradition of depicting Ireland’s difficult relationship with Britain as a frustrated and dangerous romance between lovers from ‘opposing sides’. Although the trope goes back to the medieval period, these romances take a decidedly political turn after the Act of Union (1801) when Ireland became a part of the UK. After this, Ireland saw a rise in ‘National Tales’, typically involving a marriage plot signalling the union between the nations. In these novels, the heady thrill of a love story that cuts across social boundaries sets out to achieve some serious political and nation-building work.
After the Partition of the island took effect in 1921, and again in the latter decades of the twentieth century, as the euphemistically named ‘Troubles’ escalated in violence and terror, these types of stories became increasingly common. Looking at a range of poems, novels, plays, films and TV programmes from 1968 to the present, this project asks why the trope is so prevalent; how we might understand it; and why no one has taken these love stories seriously before now. As we approach the centenary of Partition and the prospect of a return to a post-Brexit hard border, these questions are more timely and urgent than ever.
Rather than dismiss the literary and cultural ramifications of trope as kitsch or low-brow, these project revealed how these romances are shockingly indicative of: an intimate and difficult relationship between Ireland and Britain; the ongoing national struggle within the borders of Northern Ireland itself; the domestic debris that decades of conflict have left in their wake; and the deeply embroiled nature of public culture, art and politics in the Northern Ireland.
The primary research questions for this project were:
1. Is the motif mobilised differently across literary and/or cultural forms and if so, how and why?
2. What do these narratives tell us about the (lack of progress) with regards to women’s rights and gender politics in the repressive state of Northern Ireland?
3. What changes can we see in these narratives in their depiction of sectarian politics in the decades between the Northern Irish Civil Rights movement of the late 60s (a movement echoing other campaigns in Europe and the U.S.) and our ‘post-Good Friday Agreement’ present?
4. How are homosexual romances depicted? How should we read such narratives in a province where same-sex marriage was prohibited, until 2020, “by reason of special voting arrangements which reflect the troubled past of [the Northern Irish] State”?
5. Why do so many BBC programmes rely on the trope and what role might state actors play in shaping the representation of such relationships?
6. Why is it that the romance narrative is almost always frustrated? Why do many narratives adopt the ‘love across the divide’ trope when the lovers are not from opposite sites of the political divide?
