Writer probes Ulster's dark mysteries

Patterson often presents programmes on Irish literature

Writer Glenn Patterson has examined the "feeling of the great unsolved" in Northern Ireland in his new book, That Which Was.

The book centres on a Belfast conman, Larry, who is unsure whether he has committed an atrocity in his past.

He is unable to remember, and believes someone may have taken the memory from him.

"In a way I think that's maybe a condition that a lot of people in Northern Ireland suffer from," Patterson told BBC World Service's The Ticket programme.

"I think there is a feeling of collective guilt, or a feeling that perhaps in things we have said, or we have failed to say or object to, that we've all had some responsibility for the mayhem in this society."

Past dominance

Patterson, whose debut novel, Burning Your Own, won the Rooney award for Irish literature, has often used Belfast as a setting for his books in the past.

However his last two novels, Black Night At Big Thunder Mountain and The International, both had a more historical aspect.

The question of what we do about those people who were killed during the 30 years of conflict is ever present Glenn Patterson

He said he was keen to give his impressions of the city in the modern day.

"I was conscious of the fact that the city that I principally live in had changed since the year since I'd last written about it in the present day," Patterson stated.

"Really I was taking a little bit of stock of the city, and the changes to the political and social climate."

The book's tagline is that there is only one thing worse than the memory of your worst deeds - having no memory.

Patterson said ironically, Northern Ireland's past was again dominating the province's current state.

"We're in the climate here of inquiries, and there's a lot of conversation and discussion about how we deal with the past, and how we investigate the past, how we account to ourselves," he said.

"So it's certainly not just the cityscape I wanted to be current - I wanted to be current in terms of the concerns.

He added that while the inquiries would help resolve some issues, there were many families who lost loved ones and would never know why.

"The past has always been important in Ireland, in Northern Ireland in particular - some would say too important.

"Yet in this 10th year since the IRA ceasefire, the question of what we do about those people who were killed during the 30 years of conflict is ever present."