Spring

PRESIDENT

Michael Patrick Gillespie

English - Marquette University

Milwaukee, WI 53201

VICE-PRESIDENT

John P. Harrington

Humanities - Rensselaer Inst.

Troy, NY 12180

SECRETARY

Kathryn Conrad

English - University of Kansas

Lawrence, KA 66045

TREASURER

David Gardiner

English - Creighton University

Omaha, NE 68178

Past President &

International Representative

Nancy J. Curtin

Fordham University

History Representative

Robert Savage

Boston College

Literature Representative

Margot Gayle Backus

University of Houstons

Social Science Representative

Timothy J. Meagher

Catholic University of America

Irish Language Representative

Liam Ó Dochartaigh

University of Limerick

Celtic Studies Representative

Philip Freeman

Washington University

Arts Representative

Charlotte Headrick

Oregon State University

Mid-Atlantic Representative

Robert Mahony

Catholic University of America

Midwest Representative

Sean Farrell Moran

Oakland University

New England Representative

Richard Finnegan

Stonehill College

Southern Representative

Edward Madden

University of South Carolina

Western Representative

Audrey Eyler

Pacific Lutheran University

Graduate Student

Fitz Smith

Washington University

Newsletter Editor

James Doan

Nova Southeastern University

2003

ACIS

NEWSLETTER

Dear Friends,

I am writing to you for the last time as ACIS president, and I ask you to indulge my view that it is most appropriate at this time to thank individuals who have done much to make the past two years successful. I realize that this is a risky endeavor for anyone with a memory as poor as mine. Inevitably, I will forget to acknowledge someone who has done a great deal, and I apologize for any such thoughtlessness.

I have received important advice and ongoing support from many individuals and particularly from the past ACIS presidents. I am grateful to all of them and to Nancy Curtin in particular. Her wise and generous efforts during her term as ACIS president made my time in office very easy. I likewise am appreciative of all that the executive committee has done over the past two years. In particular, Vice-President John Harrington, Secretary Katie Conrad, and Treasurer David Gardiner have worked unselfishly to strengthen the organization, insure its continuing successful functioning, and keep me pointed in the right direction.

Finally, I want to thank each of you. ACIS is a vibrant organization because of the energy and insights of its members. It has been a great pleasure communicating with you, seeing you at ACIS gatherings, and listening to your ideas presented in panels and informal conversation. Most of all, it has been a privilege to serve as your president.

Michael

CONFERENCES

From Homer to Heaney: Contemporary Irish Poetry and the Classical Tradition

The University of Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle is organizing a conference to be held June 12-14, 2003, on the above theme. Topics may include but are not limited to:

- Translations/adaptations from Ovid, Horace, Juvenal, etc.

- The legacy of the epic in Irish lyric poetry

- Contemporary Irish poetry and the arts of memory

- Roman history as a model/burden in representations of Irish history

- Irish modernists’ use of classical texts

- Parodies and subversions of the classical models

- The uses and abuses of classical rhetoric

- Reinventing classical satire

Proposals (500 words maximum - no attachment please) must be sent to Dr. Carle Bonafous-Murat (cbmurat@aol.com) or to Dr. Maryvonne Boisseau (maryvonne.boisseau@univ-paris3.fr).

2003 North American James Joyce Conference

Celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the James Joyce Quarterly, the conference will take place at the University of Tulsa June 16-20. The focus will be “post-industrial Joyce,” though paper proposals are invited on all aspects of Joyce’s works. Send panel and paper proposals of no more than 250 words to: Sean Latham, Dept. of English, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104; e-mail: sean-latham@utulsa.edu

Ireland and Europe in the Nineteenth Century: An International Multidisciplinary Conference

Hosted by the Society for the Study of 19th-Century Ireland at Queen's University Belfast, on June 20-22, 2003, this conference will explore the period when modern ideas of nationhood underwent significant development. In the case of Ireland, there was significant dialogue and comparison with Europe, but this can be viewed as a two-way process, encompassing both the influence of European ideas and culture on 19th-century Ireland, and the influence of Irish ideas on 19th-century Europe. Proposals for 20-minute papers on any aspect of this dialogue, including the sociology, anthropology, and ethnology of nationhood and identity; revolutionary movements and discourses; travel writing;

appropriations of Europe; and national imaginings are encouraged. Selected essays will contribute to an edited volume. Proposals of about 250 words should be sent by February 28, 2003, to: Dr Leon Litvack or Dr Colin Graham, School of English, Queen's University, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland (L.Litvack@qub.ac.uk, Colin.Graham@qub.ac.uk).

REGIONAL MEETINGS

New England: This year’s meeting will be held at Bridgewater State University, MA, in October. For dates and further information, contact Patricia Fanning, Dept. of Sociology, Bridgewater State Univ.

Western: The 19th annual meeting of ACIS-West will take place on October 10-12, 2003, in Boise, Idaho. Hosted by Boise State University, the conference will be held at the Grove Hotel. The general theme is Into the West. Conference events will include a night of Irish drama and a reading by Belfast poet Medbh McGuckian. Proposals for 20-minute papers are invited on any topic of interest to Irish Studies. In keeping with the theme, considerations of Irish experience in the intermountain or far west (from the perspective of history, economics, science, literature, sociology, political science, or gender studies) are particularly welcome. Send abstracts of no more than 300 words to Helen Lojek, Dept of English, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, 83725-1525 or by e-mail to hlojek@boisestate.edu. Deadline for submissions is June 30, 2003.

Mid-West: This year’s meeting will be held in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, October 16-18, 2003. It will be sponsored by a consortium of Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, and the McLean County Museum of History. Based on the theme, “From Quayside to Main Street: Distance and Dialog,” it will include plenary sessions by Gary Owens (Huron College, Univ. of Western Ontario), William H. A. Williams (The Union Institute, Cincinnati), and Joan Dean (Univ. of MO-Kansas City). Following tried and true Mid-West regional tradition, proposals for panels and from individuals will be welcome on either the theme or other engaging topics. Send proposals by August 15, 2003 to: Lawrence W. McBride, Department of History, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4420, or to lmcbride@ilstu.edu.

Mid-Atlantic: Terry Byrne, The College of New Jersey, has been appointed acting representative until the Fall 2003 meeting which will be held at the Univ. of Maryland, College Park, on Oct. 24-25, on the theme, “Material Ireland/Virtual Ireland.” Prof. Séamas Ó Catháin (Dept. of Irish Folklore, UCD) and David A. Taylor (American Folklife Center, Library of Congress) will be the keynote speakers. Contact Susan Schriebman (ss423@umail.umd.edu) for further information.

FELLOWSHIPS

Fall Irish Research Fellowship – Boston College

In the fall of 2003 the Center for Irish Programs/Irish Studies will offer a research fellowship. The scholarship will provide housing at the Mill Street Cottage adjacent to the Boston College Law School and an office in Connolly House, the home of the Irish Studies Program. Scholars will be able to conduct research at Boston College libraries including the Burns Library, which houses the Special Irish Collection, the O'Neill Library and the Irish Music Archive. The fellowship will allow researchers access to other institutions in the Boston area such as the Boston Public Library, the Massachusetts State Archive, and the John F. Kennedy Library. Scholars studying in all fields of Irish Studies are invited to apply. A travel grant of $1,000 will be offered to assist the research fellow. Those interested

in applying should write to Robert Savage c/o Boston College Irish Studies Program, Connolly House, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.

SUMMER SCHOOLS

Queen’s University Belfast Institute of Irish Studies

The third International Summer School on the theme, “Ireland: Northern Perspectives,” will be held July 21-August 8, 2003. This three-week interdisciplinary summer school in Irish Studies offers participants the opportunity to learn from internationally-acclaimed scholars about Irish politics, anthropology, history, film and theatre and language and literature. The summer school explores many aspects of the conflict but also introduces students to the rich and diverse life and culture around Belfast. A full program of cultural events includes a reading by leading Irish poet Medbh McGuckian. Fieldtrips include a journey to County Down, rich in archaeological and literary history, and to historic Derry City. Participants will have the opportunity to examine the current situation in Northern Ireland

through meetings with community group leaders, politicians, and the Police Service. Cost: £695 (to include tuition and bed and breakfast accommodation). For further information, please contact: Catherine Boone, Summer School Administrator, Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT7 1NN; tel: 44 (0) 28 9027 3386; e-mail: irish.studies@qub.ac.uk; Web site: www.qub.ac.uk/iis/summerschool.htm.

BOOK NEWS

Art Hughes, lecturer in Irish language and literature in the University of Ulster at Belfast, has produced two recent books which will facilitate the learning of Irish. The first, Bunchomhrá Gaeilge/ Basic Conversational Irish (Clólann Bheann Mhadagáin, Belfast 2002), £16.00 (including shipping) is useful for those who want to learn Irish or brush up on it, with 113 conversations and full English translations plus a dictionary and short grammar summary. The second is Trialacha Tuigbheála/Comprehension Tests (Clólann Bheann Mhadagáin, Belfast 2002) £24.00 (including shipping) and intended for intermediate Irish learners. This book contains 22 texts dealing with a wide variety of everyday situations, followed by questions in Irish to be answered in Irish with a further set of questions on how to phrase things in other ways in Irish. There are other questions dealing with grammar and structure and a short English dictionary. All 22 texts and the first two sets of questions are recorded on the CDs which accompany the course. Both books make use of native speakers of the Ulster dialect of Rannafast, one of the most celebrated of Irish dialects through the literature of the Mac Grianna bothers, Seosamh and Séamas (“Máire”). Both books and CDs are available from Ben Madigan Press, 516 Antrim Road, Belfast, BT15 5GG.

Jeffrey Dudgeon has recently published Roger Casement: The Black Diaries (Belfast Press, 2002), 680 pages with 65 illustrations, at $50 (including shipping) direct from belfastpress@hotmail.com or 56 Mount Prospect Park, Belfast. This is a rare combination of Irish and gay history. Intended to be a book of record or Casement reader, it contains for the first time Casement’s highly erotic journal of 1911 with its sexual encounters in the towns of the Amazon, banned until now by a British government threat of an obscenity charge, alongside the other three notorious items. The book has chapters on his Co. Antrim family and background, Ballymena schooldays, career in Africa and Brazil, companions Millar Gordon and Adler Christensen, the Easter Rising, and the controversies about the diaries. It emphasizes Casement’s key role in the Irish revolution and the rarely recognized influence of F. J. Bigger of Ardrigh, Belfast, in the early 1900s. With an extensive bibliography and over a thousand references, this book breaks new ground in many areas.

Irish Film Watch by James MacKillop

Prizes before profits. That seems to be the leading aesthetic policy of the Irish Film Board, Bord Scannán na hÉireann. In calendar year 2002 no Irish-made feature film made it to the top twenty in Irish box- office receipts, still dominated by Hollywood. At the same time the IFB sponsored seven ventures, one of which has already reaped top awards.

Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival is Peter Mullan’s The Magdalene Sisters, about the now infamous Magdalene Laundries for wayward girls. We follow the fortunes of four such “sinners” as they find themselves in an almost medieval nightmare. The film also won the Critics’ Award at the Toronto Film Festival. With accolades has come controversy. Several Church spokespersons have condemned The Magdalene Sisters as exaggerated and anti-clerical. Featured in the cast are two London stage actresses of Irish appearance, Geraldine McEwan and Anne Marie Duff.

American star Aidan Quinn is featured in another film re-examining the strictness of Church institutions of a few decades past. This is Aisling Walsh’s Song for a Raggy Boy, based on poet Patrick Galvin’s memoir of being the only lay teacher in an oppressive Christian Brothers school. The prevailing teaching style favors verbal and physical abuse, which the young teacher resists, trying to build relationships based on trust. This puts the young teacher at odds with the violently conservative system.

Another vehicle with abundant star power is The Actors with Michael Caine, directed by the brilliant young playwright Conor McPherson, from a story by Neil Jordan. Set in Dublin, two actors research the roles in Richard III by mixing with local criminals in the city’s roughest pubs. Without their planning it, the two begin to prove the little known adage that bad actors make great crooks. They find themselves embroiled in a hilarious plot to steal a large sum of cash.

Two Irish-born performers who’ve begun to make it big in international film return to their roots in John Crowley’s urban love story Intermission. They are Colin Farrell, seen in Minority Report (dir. Spielberg), Hart’s War and American Outlaws, where he played Jesse James, and Kelly MacDonald of Gosford Park (dir. Altman) and Two Family House. Emotionally inarticulate and insecure John breaks up with Deirdre to “give her a little test,” a plan that will leave her broken-hearted and him alone and miserable. Also featured is veteran character actor Colm Meany.

Not all features are headed for festivals, however. Two films clearly hope to tap into existing niche markets. One is David Blair’s comedy Mystics with David Kelly (Waking Ned Devine) and Milo O’Shea (The Playboys, Ulysses, etc.). Two wily old-timers from a theatrical company scamming the unsuspecting by holding “seances” in the Temple of Truth, actually a room above a Dublin pub. Their game of communicating with the dead leads to complications when a local gangster dies and his family tried to get in touch with him.

Liz Gill’s Goldfish Memory covers some of the same ground as Sarah Jessica Parker’s narrative of impermanent relations in Sex and the City. The “goldfish” in the title comes from the observation that the little creatures can remember for only three seconds so that they always feel they’re meeting for the first time—just like humans. This light-hearted look at the dangers and delights or dating in contemporary Dublin portrays the straight, the gay and the in-between. Featured is Flora Montgomery of When Brendan Met Trudy and the recent Benedict Arnold TV movie.

The riskiest of the seven features, Robert Quinn’s Dead Bodies, is also the first Irish film to employ high definition content. Two little known leads, Andrew Scott and Kelly Reilly, play a young couple with frequent domestic disputes, made far worse when she slips and is fatally injured. Included in the cast are veteran character players Sean McGinley and Gerard McSorley.