Bernard MacLaverty, Cal

Liam Harte (University of Manchester)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.4: Irish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Paul Delaney (Trinity College Dublin), Anne Markey (Dublin City University), Ian Campbell Ross (Trinity College Dublin), Sinéad Sturgeon (Queen's University Belfast)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1983

Places

Northern Ireland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Cal focuses on the psychological torment and political victimhood of Cal McCluskey, a young working-class Catholic living in a Protestant housing estate in Northern Ireland during the “Troubles”. Cal is drawn into the Provisional IRA by Crilly, a former school friend, who pressurises him into being the getaway driver in the assassination of Robert Morton, a reserve policeman in the mainly Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary. Cal’s feelings of guilt and self-loathing which stem from this event are intensified by his romantic attraction to Morton’s Catholic widow, Marcella, with whom he develops a doomed relationship. Unable to confess his crime to Marcella or extricate himself from the clutches of Crilly and the local IRA …

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878 words

Citation: Harte, Liam. "Cal". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 March 2001 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6204, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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