Nights Beneath the Nation
by Denis Kehoe
Serpent’s Tail. 245 pages, $14.95
THIS WELL-RESEARCHED historical novel alternates between Dublin in the early 1950’s and late 1990’s, following a gay man as he recalls his youthful adventures and the tragic series of events that forced him to flee for America. Daniel Ryan enters Dublin from his country home, captivated by the excitement and opportunities available in Ireland’s capital. When he comes to realize that he’s gay, he also discovers the city’s hidden homosexual underground. In addition, he learns of his talent and passion for the theatre when he’s asked to perform in a production of Federico García Lorca’s play Blood Wedding, where he meets and falls in love with Anthony, a young student and actor. But even in Dublin, Daniel cannot escape the closed-minded, bigoted attitudes of the majority of his fellow countrymen, and his happiness is short-lived. In a scene not revealed until the end of the novel, his relationship with Anthony ends, and he escapes Ireland for nearly fifty years. When he returns, he is forced to face his past and eventually bury his demons.
By the 1990’s, Daniel has become an extremely bitter, jaded old man, full of self-loathing and internalized homophobia. He also shows himself to be an unreliable narrator, revealing by the end of each chapter that he never really believed whatever he was saying at the beginning, usually a cruel, harshly worded proclamation of some kind. For instance, he mentions that in New York he made a lot of money in the men’s hairstyling business with a clientele of “fags” that he disparages at great length. Several chapters pass before he tells of his own attraction to men. Daniel eventually divulges enough of his past to become a sympathetic character, but in the meantime readers may be put off by his abrasive, hate-filled thoughts.
Nights Beneath the Nation depicts many of the potential dangers of gay life, both in the past and today: alcoholism, drug use, one-night stands with strangers, and mental illness. The novel effectively evokes a time not all that long ago when to be gay was to risk police harassment or imprisonment in mental hospitals, often at the behest of one’s own family. Blackmail, emotional as well as financial, was a very real possibility faced by gay men. As a result, the gay community of Dublin, as elsewhere, was extremely secretive, tucked away in certain bars and clubs. Daniel relates his introduction to these places and people with great relish, describing a world that has long since vanished.
Part love story and part mystery, the novel unfolds as Kehoe slowly reveals what happened that drove Daniel away from the city and people he loved. The discovery proceeds naturally once Daniel befriends Gerard, a young man researching a figure from Daniel’s past, and their growing friendship eventually encourages the older man to tell his story. Daniel is at first reluctant to face his past and wavers between confiding in Gerard and lying to him about everything, including his name. By the end, however, the terrible truth emerges, and for the first time in fifty years, Daniel can move on with his life.
Nights Beneath the Nation recreates the glory and shame of learning one’s identity and forming a community among fellow outcasts, of enjoying carnal pleasure, and falling in love for the first time. The novel also underscores how much life has changed for gays and lesbians in Ireland in a fairly brief time.
Charles Green is a writer based in Anapolis, Maryland.
