Nationalizing Realism in Dermot Bolger’s The Journey Home

Dermot Bolger’s third novel, The Journey Home, emerged in 1990 in the author’s home country of the Republic of Ireland, yet took 18 years to be republished in the United States in 2008. The novel’s graphic depiction of an array of abuses, including sexual, physical, political, and economic, not only illustrated the author’s intention to shock the reading public regarding the government’s conscious disregard for these struggles, but its publication also elucidated the aftereffects of exposing the differences between experiences with abuse and the ways in which both national and socio-economic processes mediate their interpretations. In this paper, I will argue that Bolger’s illustration of corruption and abuse does not only display a contrast between the public and those who represent their image, but also how socioeconomic paradigms are used to mediate perceptions of what constitutes ‘reality’.