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Una McCormick’s hybrid short story, “The Sea is not Full”, blends the gothic with thesupernatural and crime to re-enacts the ancient historical encounter between Ireland andthe Roman empire. In my paper, I will explore how McCormick uses the supernatural anduncanny creature of the Selkie to write back to history. A Selkie is a seal-person with asupernatural ability to transform themselves, shedding their seal skin to take human formwhen they are on land, and putting their skin on again when they return to the sea. It is saidthat,The legend of the selchie is found along the shores of Britain and Eire; there areselchie stories from Cornwall, Ireland, and most particularly the northern islands offScotland: the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Hebrides […] selchies can shed their seal-skinson the land and pass for humans, usually with tragic consequences. (Best of Legends)
In my paper, I focus on the story’s uncanny representation of the Selkie as a Gothic andcomplex disruptive factor, a creature that blurs the boundaries between human and animal.McCormick’s. “The Sea is Not Full” draws on the supernatural Selkie creature to illustrateoppression and colonisation in relation to gender, language, and cultural and spiritualbeliefs. The story thus explores how the Roman Empire never really gained control overIreland, due to their attempt to control Ireland using excessive violence and control, just likethe Selkie’s shapeshifting and return to the sea cannot be controlled by humans.
