The Gospel According to Blindboy: Masculinity, Mental Health, and Social Criticism in Blindboy Boatclub’s short stories

Abstract

[eng] In the Post-Celtic Tiger years, many Irish writers have continued experimenting with fictional literature, since after the economic crash most of the Irish novels focused on historical fiction or commercial fiction. Nevertheless, the need to expose the reality of Irish society has led to the introduction of different stylistic devices, such as satire, to add a critical undertone to those novels. Blindboy Boatclub’s The Gospel According to Blindboy in 15 Short Stories relies on humour and satire to criticise different aspects of contemporary Irish society. This essay will analyse Blindboy’s social criticism in some of his stories towards the hegemonic concept of masculinity, as well as the invisibility in Irish institutions and society of people dealing with mental health problems. This analysis will expose how, using humour and satire, Blindboy drives the readers to question the ideal of manliness rooted in the Irish culture, and the helpless situation of those suffering from mental health conditions.