Unearthing crypts and blurring borders in Anna Burns' «Milkman»

Drawing primarily on the work of Derrida, this paper provides an analysis of Belfast writer Anna Burns’ award-winning novel Milkman (2018) from the perspectives of secrecy, hauntology and the crypt, with the aim of offering new insights into the ungraspable haunting effects of trans-generational trauma. Two literary applications of the crypt are studied: a severed cat’s head found by the protagonist in the so called ‘ten-minute area’, and cryptic letters stuffed inside an old ragdoll and hidden in plain sight. I propose that the speculative conclusions reached as a result of this study not only allow for a sharper (re)reading of the novel itself, but also work towards the deconstruction of real and symbolic borders.  