The Border as a Nexus of Space and Time in Borderland by Patrick Quigley
The Border as a Nexus of Space and Time in Borderland by Patrick Quigley

Summary/Abstract: Published in 1994, Borderland by Patrick Quigley combines a historical narrative with an allegory of the lost innocence of youth and the land it is associated with. Although it is concerned with its protagonist’s maturation, the novel is primarily a toponarrative that revolves round both imaginative and actual borderscapes. The point that Quigley’s novel makes is that the two types of borderscapes (i.e., imaginative and actual ones) are indivisible, the latter borrowing sense and shape from the former, including the spiritual and cultural deposits that have accrued on the border over time. Central to this essay’s reading of the novel is its grounding in the genius loci category which ties the spirit (i.e., the genius) down to one particular location on the Irish border. The spirit – in this case a dead/buried giant emblematic of the imminent threat of violence – animates the entire place and thus becomes at least as important as the protagonist of Quigley’s novel.

• Details
• Contents