#MeToo and the Northern Ireland Troubles: Anna Burns' Milkman

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between Anna Burns’ Milkman (2018) and the gender politics of the #MeToo movement. It argues that reading Milkman in light of #MeToo helps us understand the book’s depiction of sexual violence and illuminates an important, hidden history of the Northern Irish conflict. Drawing on a range of feminist scholars, it situates Milkman within a series of broader debates about the ‘cultural scaffolding’ of sexual violence and the historically masculinist logic of Irish nationalism. The article concludes by situating Milkman within a predominant thematic strain in recent Irish fiction; namely, the ‘retrospective mood’ whereby authors have sought to revisit the past and re-examine its legacies for the precarious peace of the present.

Keywords

• #MeToo
• political conflict
• sexual violence
• Irish fiction