ABSTRACT

Solar Bones encompasses several interlinked crises. Mike McCormack’s 2016 Goldsmith Prize-winning novel speaks to the 2008 financial crash, the environmental and health crisis that was the 2007 cryptosporidium outbreak, political crises such as the Eighth Amendment and Citizenship Referendum, as well as various personal crises which link the local and national body politic. Throughout, McCormack is concerned with the engineering and collapse of societal foundations, but also in the ways in which crisis is experienced and embodied. Within the corrupt political system of the novel, the common good – supposedly ensured by failing, patriarchal institutions – is outsourced to women. This is true of a number of contemporary Irish social ruptures, such as the 2004 Citizenship Referendum and the Eighth Amendment which are explored in relation to Solar Bones’s exploration of female embodiment. Crisis in the novel is a gendered, embodied experience, represented both by Mairead’s severe illness and Agnes’s art. Although Mairead recovers, her body remains a site of (male) political failures. Similarly, Agnes fails to evade woman’s role as symbol of nation/community and merely embodies the political machinations outside of her control.

摘要

太阳能骨骼包括几个相互关联的危机。迈克·麦科马克 (Mike McCormack) 2016 年获得金史密斯奖的小说讲述了 2008 年的金融危机、2007 年隐孢子虫爆发的环境和健康危机、第八修正案和公民公民投票等政治危机，以及将地方和国家联系起来的各种个人危机身体政治。自始至终，麦科马克都关注社会基础的工程和崩溃，但也关注危机经历和体现的方式。在小说的腐败政治体系中，共同利益——据说是由失败的父权制度所确保的——被外包给了女性。当代爱尔兰的许多社会分裂都是如此，例如 2004 年公民公投和第八修正案Solar Bones对女性化身的探索。小说中的危机是一种性别化的、具身化的体验，以迈瑞德的重病和艾格尼丝的艺术为代表。尽管 Mairead 康复了，但她的身体仍然是（男性）政治失败的场所。同样，艾格尼丝也没有回避女性作为国家/社区象征的角色，而只是体现了她无法控制的政治阴谋。