Rites of defilement: abjection and the body politic in Northern Irish poetry

Brewster, S

Abstract

It might be argued that Northern Ireland--a territorial and signifying space whose meanings and boundaries have been so violently contested, a body politic sustained and racked by anomalous and permeable partition--has been in the condition of abjection since its foundation. Against this disorder, Northern Irish writing has often been posited as a purifying, redemptive force, able to 'hold a plea' with the rage of conflict and crisis. (1) Yet, for Julia Kristeva, it is literature that carries the full power of abjection into effect; all literature...

Citation

Brewster, S. (2005). Rites of defilement: abjection and the body politic in Northern Irish poetry. Irish University Review, 35(2), 304-319

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Sep 22, 2005
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2009
• Journal: Irish University Review
• Print ISSN: 0021-1427
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 304-319
• Publisher URL: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb162/is_2_35/ai_n29232918