Meaney explains Kristevaís notion of a third generation of
feminism which is a mixture of the demand for ëinsertion into history
and the radical refusal of the subjective limitations imposed by this
historyís time on an experiment carried out in the name of irreducible
differenceí.^30 This is an important reading for feminist criticism that
needs to be stressed: the dilemma between insertion into the historical
and the subjective limitations imposed by historicism haunts Bolandís
poetry and the critical reception of her poetry. Meaney notices how as
feminism comes into conflict with traditional forms of national
identity: ëAny gathering point of solidarity not marked by difference
will inevitably return women to ìthe noise of mythî.í In Benjaminís
terms, any assemblage of the temporal fragments will risk becoming
another ëcontinuum of Historyí that needs to be arrested and exploded.
Myth is associated with noise and therefore, by implication, truth or
the ërealí would be connected with silence. Meaney concludes via
Kristeva that it can only be on the basis of our differences that ëthe
spaces on the page [Ö] widen to include usí.^31 In view of this
comment, it is interesting to explore how Boland can play a
decentralizing role in her work, so as to ask whether the spaces on the
page widen to include whoever ëusí may be.
Irreducible Identities
The poem ëStoryí from In a Time of Violence tells of two lovers who
run away from a vengeful king, and is evocative of the legend of
Diarmuid and Grania. ëStoryí is similar to the Northern myth of The
Fate of the Sons of Usnach where Deidre elopes with Naoise. The
king could either be King Cormac at Tara or King Conchubhar of
Ulster. The absence of names in the poem allows it to be read in terms
of both legends, demonstrating how myths interact and perpetuate one
another. As Lorna Reynolds indicates, Deidreís lover, Naoise, is torn
30 Meaney quoting Kristeva from ëWomenís Timeí in ëMyth, History and the
Politics of Subjectivityí, p.152. Kristeva, ëWomenís Timeí, p.195.
31 Ibid., p.153.