question the pathos of authenticity that informs the construction of
ëWomaní and ëNationí.
Nuala NÌ Dhomhnaill has criticized ëthe trope of Mother Irelandí
to argue that Irish women poets ëcarry a map of Ireland on our backsí
that needs to be shed.^3 What follows is an analysis of the ways in
which the tropes of ëWomaní and ëNationí are revised by the poets,
Michael OíLoughlin and Nuala NÌ Dhomhnaill as they critique the
representation of two key mythological characters, Cuchulainn and
Cathleen, who were vital figures within the cultural nationalism of the
Irish Literary Revival. It is necessary to stress how at a broader level,
the travel writing of OíLoughlin which leaves Ireland differs in its
agenda from the Gaelic poetry and translations of NÌ Dhomhaill. Even
so, these poems have been chosen for a comparative study because
they focus upon similar material within their writing including the
way in which the figures of Irish mythology can be called into
question.
Contemporary Ireland, Cuchulainn and Cathleen
Michael OíLoughlinís poem ëCuchulainní (1996) is an example of
how the mythological heroes of Irish cultural nationalism which were
conceived as representative of an authentic version of nationality, are
treated more roughly by contemporary poets from Ireland.^4 The poem
operates via a paradox that construes Cuchulainn by claiming to be
unable to do so:
If I lived in this place for a thousand years
I could never construe you, Cuchulainn.3 Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Plenary Address to the ‘WERRC Conference’, Dublin,
Wednesday 26th May 1999.
4 Shaun Richards has provided a brief but useful commentary on this in his
paragraph on Michael O’Loughlin in his essay ‘“ Breaking the Cracked
Mirror” : Binary Oppositions in the Culture of Contemporary Ireland’, Ireland
and Cultural Theory, p.105.