South recognize the problematic nature of attempting to reconstruct
gendered national identity. Graham develops the view of Gayatri
Spivak from ëCan the Subaltern Speak?í (1988)^24 to argue that
ë[e]mphasizing the mechanics of the ordering of subaltern/dominant
relations rather than searching for an authentic site of pure insurgency
is the starting-point of reading the gendered subaltern.í^25 How far the
Achill woman can be considered as a ëgendered subalterní is a further
question that begins to deconstruct searches for authenticity and to
emphasize the ordering of dominant relations in Bolandís poem. This
argument notices how the need to insert herstory into History as ëpureí
and ëauthenticí is comparable with nationalist moves towards de-
colonization which replace one universal discourse with another rather
than disabling the inherent essentialism on which these narratives
depend. That is, replacing one theological approach to History with
another, making one version more sacred than another or imagining
that History can be redeemed from its previous errors in a progressive
way.
What is at the root of the problematic of decolonization for
gendered and national identities is the weight of sacred modes of
representation and understanding. Benjamin confronts this when he
tries to blast through the ëhistorical continuumí only to ëenlist the
services of theologyí or the monotheism of his appeal to the Messianic
time of Judaism. He ends the ëThesesí: ëFor every second of time was
the strait gate through which the Messiah might enter.í^26 This
metaphor imagines some ërealí version of History to be resurrected so
as to redeem the world. Although Benjamin critiques certain versions
of History, he cannot resist imagining a more authentic version of
events that is based on a sacred ërealí time at the beyond. This is the
main problem faced by Boland in her poetry so that her aims in her
essays where she hopes to write women into the historical become
troubling.
Clair Wills suggests that Boland remains caught by the tropes of
womanhood and nationhood that she seeks to deconstruct:
24 Gayatri Spivak, ëCan the Subaltern Speak?í (1988), Colonial Discourse and
Post-Colonial Theory, eds., Laura Chrisman and Patrick Williams (London:
Harvester, 1993), pp.66ñ111.
25 Graham, ëSubalternity and Genderí, p.370.
26 Benjamin, p.255.