‘Our Native Reminiscence’: Clinging to ‘Lost Time’ in Kevin Barry’s City of Bohane

Bohane is a dystopian city of the future populated by residents who want to ‘reach again for the whimsical days of their youth and for the city as it was back then’ (Barry City of Bohane, 2012, 178) before the ‘lost time’. This chapter will discuss how the past haunts the Bohane urban space, shaping its present and determining its future. Reminiscent of the Celtic Tiger and subsequent economic collapse, Bohane moves easily between dystopia and utopia for the traumatised residents. Never mentioning the trauma of the ‘lost time’ the residents in Bohane have created a new space for memory and nostalgia, their gothic and postmodern present.