AMERICAN CONFERENCE for IRISH STUDIES, INC.
formerly AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR IRISH STUDIES
FOUNDED 1960
Fall 2001
Dear Friends,
It is a privilege and honor to begin serving my term as president the American Conference of Irish Studies. I am approaching this job with a great deal of optimism and enthusiasm thanks in no small degree to the work of my predecessor, Nancy Curtin. On June 9th at the banquet for the Fordham ACIS conference, I attempted to express my thanks to Nancy. In this inaugural column, I would like to underscore these feelings by recapitulating those remarks.
One of the great strengths of ACIS has always been the deep commitment of its members to the advancement of Irish studies. Since 1962 this dedication has fostered tremendous growth in the discipline, making it a viable field for new scholars to enter, a vibrant area for established researchers, and a respected discipline for those who have worked in it for their entire professional careers. These achievements came about in no small part because unselfish individuals, affiliated with the American Conference for Irish Studies, who devoted a great deal of energy to enhancing Irish studies, and we all owe a large measure of thanks to those who have worked so diligently.
While such energy has produced tremendous strides in Irish studies, difficulties have arisen when men and women of goodwill have forwarded different views on the way that our discipline should evolve. This was the situation that Nancy Curtin faced when she took office two years ago. Disagreements over the direction of Irish studies had left some members wondering about their roles in the discipline, and I think it no exaggeration to say that our organization was at a crossroads. Over the past two years, Nancy has done much to reunify our efforts. She worked diligently to insure that we all knew that there were no prescribed or proscribed approaches to Irish studies. She welcomed a variety of views, and she made it clear that every ACIS member had much to contribute to the field. With energy, diligence, and tact, Nancy reminded us what first brought us to the discipline, what drew us together as colleagues, and what we have accomplished as an organization.
ACIS is now as dynamic as at any time in its history. This condition comes directly from the efforts of its members, and it has been facilitated in no small part by the work of Nancy Curtin. For that, on behalf of our membership, I say thank you and God bless.
Michael Gillespie
MURPHY TRIBUTE: HONORING A PIONEER
Dr. Maureen Murphy, former president of ACIS, was honored for her lifetime service to Irish studies at the annual conference in New York City in June 2001. Dr. Murphy received a resolution of praise from the City Council of New York City and tributes from around the world, including Seamus Heaney, ACIS, IASIL, CAIS, IASIL-Japan, The Yeats Society of Japan, the Association of Irish Studies in Brazil, and personal tributes from Mary Massoud (Egypt), Margaret MacCurtain (UCD), and Catherine Shannon (Westfield College). Irish Ambassador to the United States Sean Ó Huiginn wrote: "Maureen Murphy has dedicated her brilliant mind and her formidable character to this field for more than three decades. She has been equally adept in developing her own original works of scholarship as she has been in promoting public awareness of the wealth of the Irish-American heritage, through her lectures, her publishing and media work, and, crucially for coming generations, her influence on the educational curriculum." The previous month, Dr. Murphy was given an honorary degree by SUNY at Cortland. The tributes are all well deserved.
2002 ACIS CONFERENCE
The 2002 national meeting of ACIS will be held at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, 5-8 June. Housing will be available on-campus at the refurbished East Hall (414-288-7208) and off-campus at the Milwaukee Hilton (414-271-7250) and the Holiday Inn Milwaukee City Center (414-273-2950). Reservations should be made in connection with the Marquette University Irish Studies Conference. For further information regarding the schedule and conference arrangements, see the Conference Web site: http://www.marquette.edu/courses/engl/gillespm
The 2002 Program Committee consists of John Harrington (Chair)(harrin@cooper.edu), Margot Gayle Backus (backus@sjfc.edu), Liam Ó Dochartaigh (Liam.ODochartaigh@ul.ie), and Robert Savage (savager@monet.bc.edu). The Committee solicits proposals for individual papers, group panels, and new formats; it also solicits offers to serve as chairs or respondents.
One-page abstracts of proposals and all other communication, including proposed panels, must be submitted to the Chair by 1 November 2001 via e-mail, as above; fax, 212-353-4398; or mail to: John Harrington, Humanities, The Cooper Union, New York, New York 10003-7120. The program will be announced by 1 January 2002.
REGIONAL MEETINGS
New England: The New England meeting will be held in the George Sherman Union, Boston University, on 28-29 September. The theme is AHome: Through the Eyes of the Emigrant,@ and the keynote speaker is Prof. Ruth-Ann Harris of Boston College. The schedule and information on accomodations, etc., may be found at: http://omega.cc.umb.edu/~irish/neacis.htm
Western: The Western meeting will be held at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Tacoma, 12-14 October on the theme, AGenre to Gender,@ including a presentation by Micheline Sheehy-Skeffington, Feminist Hanna's granddaughter, and a play, Twinkletoes, by Jennifer Johnston. Registration information is posted on www.acisweb.com, and completed registration forms should be sent to Kendall Reid: kreid@seanet.com or 2500 N. Lawrence Street, Tacoma, WA 98406-6128.
Midwest: The regional meeting will be held at Creighton University on 26-27 October. The keynote speaker is Andrew Carpenter (UCD) and Eamonn Wall will read from his poetry at the Joslyn Art Museum. An opening reception, hosted by the Irish Consul General and Creighton University, will be held at the Bemis Art Gallery. Contact David Gardiner (gardiner@creighton.edu) for further information.
Mid-Atlantic: This year=s meeting will take place at Pennsylvania State University, Abington (in north suburban Philadelphia) on 2-3 November. The theme is ARevisiting, Reclaiming and Revising: Perspectives on Irish Culture and Society,@ though papers are invited on all aspects of Irish studies. Send abstracts to Robert Mahony (mahony@cua.edu) no later than 23 September. For further information regarding conference arrangements, contact Tramble Turner (ttt3@psu.edu).
Southern: Next year=s meeting will take place at Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA, 21-23 February 2002. The theme is AIreland in the 21st Century: Change and Continuity@: we encourage papers addressing this theme but welcome scholarship on any aspect of Irish Studies. The Conference will feature a reading by Ciaran Carson, a plenary address by Ronald Schuchard, a Theatre Young Harris Production of Brian Friel's Translations, and an evening of Irish and Appalachian music. Contact Louisa Franklin at lfranklin@yhc.edu for information concerning lodging, which will be at the Brasstown Valley Resort. Please send paper and panel proposals by 31 October 2001 to Ruth Looper at rlooper@yhc.edu or fax: 706-379-4314.
AHA 2002
The 2002 AHA meeting will be held in San Francisco, with the following panel sponsored by ACIS:
Friday 4 January, 2002: 2:30-4:30 p.m. - St. Francis, Oxford Room. New Perspectives on Irish Politics, Chair, Timothy J. Meagher. Papers: AThe Twisted Roots of Irish Patriotism: Some Themes in Late 18th-Century Irish Political Thought,@ Stephen Small, Berkeley, CA; A>Enemy of the Party=? Michael Davitt and the Irish in Britain, 1882-1885,@ Laura McNeil, Boston College; A>Agents of the Pope or Agents of Moscow=: The IRA and the Comintern, 1927-1931,@ Timothy M. O'Neil, Central Michigan. Comment: Robert Savage, Boston College. 5:30-7:00 p.m. - Reception, St. Francis, Kent Room.
MLA 2001
The 2001 meeting will be held in New Orleans. There will be two ACIS-sponsored sessions: 1) Ireland and Empire: Recent Approaches to Irish Postcolonialism and 2) The Poetics of Space and Modern Irish Literature.
BOOK PRIZES
ACIS sponsors five prizes for books on Irish subjects published worldwide. John Harrington (harrin@cooper.edu) is Chair of the Book Prize Committee for works published in 2001. The individual prizes, the subject area, and the chairs of individual prizes are as follows:
Adele Dalsimer Prize; dissertations; Timothy J. Meagher (meagher@cua.edu).
James S. Donnelly, Sr., Prize; history and social sciences; Robert Savage (savager@monet.bd.edu).
Michael J. Durkan Prize; language and culture; Charlotte Headrick (Cheadrick@orst.edu).
Robert Rhodes Prize; literature; Margot Gayle Backus (backus@sjfc.edu).
Donald Murphy Prize; first book; Philip Freeman (pfreeman@artsci.wustl.edu).
Prize Chairs will be forming committees of three, and works to be considered (3 copies) may be sent to them. The deadline for submissions is 1 May 2002. Works should be entered for one prize only, although an author's first scholarly monograph (or collection of original essays) may be additionally submitted to the Murphy Prize. Prize Chairs may choose to reassign entered works.
ACIS members may nominate works for prizes and also may contact Prize Chairs. The Committee Chair, John Harrington, solicits names and addresses in publishing for announcements of all prizes. Additional information may be found on the ACIS Web site: www.acisweb.com.
The Irish Revival Reappraised - All Hallows College Dublin, 28-30 June 2002
The Irish revival had its roots in the 1880s and flourished until the 1920s. As recent studies have suggested there was no single revival but a welter of movements, some reactionary, others revolutionary, with differing views on literature, language, culture, economics and politics. Taking the long view of the Irish nineteenth century which extends to the early 1920s, this tenth conference of the Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland welcomes contributions from a wide variety of disciplines and especially interdisciplinary approaches to a reappraisal of the Irish revival. While not neglecting the great figures or key texts of the age, special emphasis will be placed on the social, economic and political contexts, such as journalism, theatre and the arts, politics, education, religion and business, which informed the intelligentsias of the period, and contributed to the emergence of movements as diverse as the Gaelic League, the Anglo-Irish literary renaissance, the co-operative movement and Sinn Féin.
All correspondence and enquiries should be sent to: Dr. E.A. Taylor-FitzSimon, Dept of English, All Hallows College, Grace Park Rd., Drumcondra, Dublin 9, Ireland; tel. 1-8373745; fax 1-8377642; E-mail: tayfitz@indigo.ie. Submit proposals for papers (c. 200 words) by 10 December 2001.
Constructions of Irishness - University of Salford, 22-24 March 2002
The Centre for Irish Studies at the University of Salford has issued a preliminary call for papers for an international conference, "Constructions of Irishness: The Irish in Ireland, Britain and Beyond," which will take place 22-24 March 2002. Subjects under review include: Emigration, the Anglo-Irish Relationship, and Varieties of Irishness, and submissions should be sent to Wendy Dodgson at w.a.dodgson@salford.ac.uk by 30 November 30 2001.
Irish-Australian Conference, NUI Galway, 19-22 June 2002
A preliminary call for papers has been issued by the Centre for Irish Studies at NUI, Galway for the twelfth Irish-Australian Conference, "From Youghal Harbour to Moreton Bay: Remembered Nations, Imagined Republics," to be held at the university 19-22 June 2002. Particularly welcome will be papers focusing on the following topics: Emigration and Immigration, Ethnic Identities and Multiculturalism, Society and Politics, Industrial Relations, Gender Studies, Women's Writing, Republicanism, Irish-Aboriginal Relations, Irish Missionaries in Australia, The Irish Language in Australia, Legal History, Economic History, and Folklore and Oral Culture. The submission date is 1 February 2002 and further details may be obtained from Louis de Paor at louis.depaor@nuigalway.ie.
FELLOWSHIPS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Atlantic Fellows in Public Policy
This program, established by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in June 1994 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of D-Day and the US contribution to the liberation of Europe, provides a unique opportunity for mid-career professionals to study and gain practical experience in a wide variety of public policy areas in the United Kingdom, as well as a firsthand introduction to the European Union.
The scheme is managed by The British Council on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. For further information, contact The British Council, Norwich Union House, 7 Fountain St., Belfast BT1 5EG, U.K; e-mail: phyllis.shaw@britishcouncil.org
Irish-American Research Travel Fellowship
The American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) is offering a $1,500 scholarship to support documentary research on Ireland in the period between the Treaty of Limerick (1691) and the Act of Union (1800), by enabling Irish-based scholars to travel to North America for further research or to present their findings at the ASECS annual meeting or that of one of its related societies. (In alternate years, the award will go to American-based scholars seeking to travel to Ireland.) The application deadline is 1 November 2001. Eligibility: All members of ASECS; Irish sister organization, the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society, who are resident in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. The fellowship is restricted to documentary scholars, whose research centers on primary sources from the 18th century (printed matter, manuscripts, buildings, works of art, or other artifacts), rather than on the secondary literature already extant. For further information or applications, contact asecs@wfu.edu.
JOURNALS
The OScholars is an electronic journal for the exchange of information on current research, publications and productions concerning Oscar Wilde and his circle, launched at the end of May 2001. It is aimed at those professionally engaged with Wilde, whether as academics, students or theatre people, while not attempting to exclude the general enthusiast. By early August circulation topped 250 in twenty-one countries. To receive a copy of the first issue, e-mail oscholarship@ireland.com and then you may consider whether you wish to subscribe regularly. It is free, monthly and at the moment only by e-mail attachment. All new subscribers will receive the back numbers. The journal is edited from the Department of English, Centre for Irish Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London.
REVIEWS
Pigtown by Mike Finn, Island Theatre Company, Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick, Ireland, 30 June 2000
Every five years or so the American Conference for Irish Studies holds its annual meeting in Ireland. In the year 2000, as ACIS members know, the conference was hosted by the University of Limerick. On first glance, Limerick's reputation as a theatre town pales in comparison to Dublin, Galway, even Belfast. But conference delegates were treated to a special event. For Friday night, 30 June, fifty tickets had been set aside so that delegates could attend Island Theatre Company's Pigtown by Mike Finn at the Belltable Arts Centre located in central Limerick.
First produced in 1999 as a millennium tribute to the city of Limerick, the play had been brought back by popular demand. During Friday evening's sold-out performance, it was clear that many in the audience were repeat attendees, singing along with the actors at key moments during the play. One could categorize Finn's piece as Rough Theatre. Starting off in the theatre lobby with a funeral procession, the audience merges with the actors as Tommy Clock's coffin is carried out the front doors of the theatre, down an alley, finally entering a performance space via the back door of the Arts Centre. As Clocks is eulogized by his neighbors, we the audience, all 160 of us, become the citizens of Limerick, fellow mourners at Clocks' funeral. Crammed into a small space, we witness the tributes to 100-year-old Tommy, whose life has spanned the whole of the 20th century.
Tommy's coffin is carried out the back door, leaving Tommy's body on the bier. In a twist on a body rising from the coffin from "Finnegan's Wake," Boucicault's The Shaughraun, Synge's The Shadow of the Glen and, most recently, Anne Devlin's After Easter, Tommy (Brendan Conroy) jumps up, very much alive proclaiming the story of his life which is, in effect, the story of Limerick, his hometown. A set of doors swings open and the audience is ushered into a long rectangular playing space with a few rows of raked seating at one end, with seating scattered throughout three sides of the space. Several audience members found seating on the floor.
Scene designer Dolores Lyne uses the empty space effectively with a ramp entrance at one end leading into the main playing area with four additional raised playing areas, consisting of a bed, a bench, a "radio" area, and a second floor window. Tommy's butcher shop is located beneath the window, opposite the entrance ramp. The use of old trunks and benches for audience seating was very appropriate to the found object/storytelling ambience of the play.
With the exception of the central character of Tommy and Sgt. Fogarty, a policeman (played by playwright Finn), the ensemble cast plays multiple roles, ranging from the statue of the Virgin Mary to an abusive husband. Time is roughly chronological and Finn helps the audience with time markers throughout the play. Early on, a woman yells at the boys playing football (soccer) in the street that she can't hear her program on the wireless because of their noise. Later in the play, the woman yells at the boys again, claiming that they are interfering with her enjoyment of Kojak.
Without a clear story line, the play is held together by Tommy and his recollections. He is the through line. As we learn, the title derives from Limerick's place as a center for the meat industry and Tommy is a butcher by trade, praising the total utility of the noble pig where nothing is wasted. The play itself is reminiscent of Belfast's now defunct Charabanc Theatre Company, not only in the use of actors playing multiple roles, but in the use of songs peppered throughout the play. The audience was singing along from the first song "Hard times will come no more" to the lilting last song, "There is an isle." At one point a few audience members were pulled on to the floor to waltz with cast members. At times this sort of audience participation can be labored or maudlin, but somehow in this tiny space, it was charming rather than cute.
Although Finn tells a story based in Limerick history, the story he tells of lost love (for want of a stamp, Tommy loses his special girl), hope, despair and struggle is a universal one, and the Americans in the audience were as involved in the action of the play as the natives of Limerick. One of the most poignant moments is the story of a German Jewess, who escapes Germany but is unable to cope with life as an exile in Limerick and kills herself in a run-down hotel. The playbill for the production is a newspaper complete with headlines and stories including the one about the suicide.
There was not a weak performance in the play. The occasional piece of Limerick dialect which goes over the heads of some audience members was compensated by the strong physical action. Terry Devlin's direction was sure and solid; the pace never lagged. Finn is fearless in depicting the story of Limerick's populace. He does not shy away from the seamier side of the city's history particular in a telling scene which examines the cycle of drink and wife abuse and there are moments of pure uproarious humor. One particular favorite is the scene in which the priest rails against the sins of swimming in the River Shannon to a group of cowering boys. Finn explores Limerick's story "warts and all" especially having fun puncturing the sacred cows of church and state. Jacquie Fitzpatrick's costumes are suggestive, just enough to mark a particular time period, but easily added to or changed to keep the action rolling.
Pigtown will have a life after Limerick; there is talk of a possible tour and, according to Finn, the play will soon be published. As a subtext to the play, there is a kind of "take that, Frank McCourt" attitude running throughout. Finn in his play tells us that there are many, many stories to be told in Limerick and his Limerick stands in gritty glory contrasting sharply to the bleak Limerick of Angela's Ashes.
Oregon State University
Our second Irish Film Watch discussed ways and means that Irish films, other than American financed blockbusters, might at least be found. Currently, there are two very interesting Irish films available at Blockbuster or the bigger chain video stores. Neither has a title that sounds very Irish, but both work well in their own ways. They are Titanic Town and Divorcing Jack. The six counties of the partition usually do not fare well in film presentation, and The North serves more as the backdrop for psychotic IRA terrorists, inhumane RUC torturers and some few soul survivors who only want to get away from it all. But getting away was rarely possible for the many who live and work and survive in the day to day of a world where it takes a heroic heart to carry on through crushing chaos.
Titanic Town takes place in the Belfast of 1972. Bernie McPhelimy and her family, who, apparently having been burned out by Loyalist terrorists, move to Andersonstown, the heart of IRA support, at the height of "The Troubles," with snipers on duty and British patrols in front and back yards. Bernie bears up as well as possible until her good friend is shot dead in the street. She wants it all to stop and she wants all who are involved to stop it. Her message is of course distorted by both sides of the cause and it is not until near the end that Bernie realizes how she has been used, especially by the Stormont powers. But the politics is secondary: the film is really about family and forgiveness. Julie Waters is magnificent as Bernie and the film is a wonderful study of living according to belief, regardless of outside influences. The inner strengths of Irish womanhood are finally being realized, even in Ireland, in films such as Some Mother's Son and Nora, in poetry by Eavan Boland and Rita Ann Higgins and in fiction by Anne Barnett and Jennifer Cornell.
There are no exceptionally strong women in Divorcing Jack, based on a novel by Colin Bateman, but there are a number of interesting characters including a nurse who moonlights as a stripping nun and an African-American CIA agent named Charlie Parker. It takes place in the early >90s when the Peace Process was staggering forward. Fortunately, Bateman wrote the screenplay and chopped out enough of the "inside" political fol-de-rol for an "outsider" to follow the story without too much confusion. It is billed as a "Comedy-Thriller" and David Thewlis acts the part of besotted Protestant newspaper columnist Paul Starkey with enough world weariness to be believable. There are as many twists and turns as the road through the Glens of Antrim and the message, meant for those who are doomed to repeat history, comes through dynamically at the close.
There are a number of interesting writers and films from and about the North, not the least of which is An Everlasting Peace, though that seems to have been torpedoed by Stephen Spielberg. There are still clunkers of the terrorist/torturer type, but one hopes they will fade out in the future, if we have learned from the past.
NEWS FROM ACIS MEMBERS
O'Connor Archive for UCC Library
A collection of letters from John V. Kelleher, retired Professor of Irish Studies at Harvard University to writer Frank O'Connor has been donated to the library at University College Cork, along with letters from Sean O'Faolain to Peter Davison, his editor at Atlantic Monthly Press. The correspondence deals in part with the difficulties experienced by both writers as a result of the activities of the Irish Censorship Board. Peter Davison was present for the ceremony at the Boole Library.
Centre for American Studies To Be Established
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has announced the establishment of a Centre for American Studies in Ireland, to be named in honour of former US President Bill Clinton. Irish universities were asked to place proposals before a committee to decide on the location for the William Jefferson Clinton Centre for American Studies.
W.J. Clinton Scholarship at University of Ulster
During his visit to the Magee campus of University of Ulster in Derry last May, former US President Bill Clinton announced the setting up of a scholarship to help those from disadvantaged groups in the city to avail of third level education. The W.J. Clinton Scholarship will give access to a degree program at the University of Ulster.
James Flannery
In July Emory University Professor James Flannery received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster and delivered the commencement address. He has also been named a visiting professor at the University, supported by a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award, to establish a graduate program in theater linked to a Yeats Theater Institute.
Catherine Shannon
The Irish-American Cultural Institute announced that Catherine B. Shannon has been selected as the 10th recipient of the IACI Visiting Fellowship in Irish Studies at NUI Galway. Dr. Shannon plans to use the fellowship Ato complete the research and writing of a book which will document and analyze the impact of three decades of political conflict on the lives and status of Northern Irish women.@ A professor at Westfield State College for over 30 years, Dr. Shannon currently holds a position at the University of Mass., Amherst.
Conor Johnston writes regarding the new Irish-American studies program at Massasoit Community College and Bridgewater State University: AThe idea came to me a couple of years ago. I had been in the English Department at Massasoit Community College for twenty-one years and had been a member of ACIS for the same length of time. The idea was that I establish an Irish studies program at Massasoit. A couple of problems presented themselves immediately.
The first problem was how to establish such a program at a community college, an institution, which by its very nature, does not lend itself to the necessary degree of specialization for an Irish studies program. The second was the fact that Massasoit is in close proximity to a four-year college and two universities with already well-established Irish studies programs: Stonehill College, Boston College and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Greater Boston, it appeared, did not need another Irish studies program, or, even if it did, there was no way a community college could compete with its three more senior neighbors.
Then a thought struck me which dealt with the second problem: Although Irish studies programs are well established throughout the country, with several four-year colleges and universities offering a minor in the field, not one institution offers a minor in Irish-American studies. True, several institutions offer various courses in Irish-American literature, Irish-American history and so on, but, there is no coherent, integrated program in the U.S. through which one can study the whole Irish-American experience. This seems rather odd in a country with over 40 million people of Irish descent. So, I thought, perhaps Massasoit could get involved in Irish-American studies.
Now, back to the first problem. A community college on its own could not handle such a program. Massasoit would need the cooperation of a four-year institution, so that a minor in Irish-American studies could be established. Thus, I met with the President of Massasoit to see if he would approach our neighbouring four-year institution, Bridgewater State College, with a view to establishing a collaborative minor in Irish-American studies. He was highly enthusiastic about the idea and met with the Bridgewater President, who was equally enthusiastic. More important was the fact that several faculty on both campuses expressed interest in the Program. Subsequently, faculty and administration from both colleges held several joint meetings.
The Bridgewater-Massasoit collaborative minor in Irish studies has been underway since spring semester, 2001, when I taught a pilot course at Massasoit in Irish-American literature. It was an encouraging beginning B nineteen students started the course, and nineteen finished. Three of the students were in their sixties, which suggests that an Irish-American studies program may prove attractive to non-traditional as well as traditional students.
The official launching of the program will take place this fall, as Bridgewater State comes on board. The basic plan is that Massasoit will teach the survey courses, and Bridgewater the more specialized. Students will choose from such courses as Irish-American Literature, Irish-American History, The Irish-American Experience, Irish-American Film, The History of Modern Ireland, Introduction to the Irish Language, American Immigration and Ethnicity, Discrimination and Prejudice, and The Ethnic Experience in America. Students of non-Irish background will be welcome in the program, as will students who want to take individual courses as opposed to the complete minor. Further, Massasoit students will be free to take courses at Bridgewater, and vice-versa.
The program will also feature regular cultural events, which will be open to the public. In addition, there will be, annually, an optional three-week, three-credit ‘minimester’ at the University of Limerick, starting in June, 2002.
Co-directors of the program are Dr. Patricia Fanning of Bridgewater=s Department of Sociology and Anthropology and myself. We are excited about the program and the element of collaboration between a two and a four-year college. We may be contacted by e-mail at pfanning@bridgew.edu and vcjohnston@aol.com.@
Sean Lucy, 1931-2001
Sean Lucy was born on March 12, 1931 in Bombay, India. His father, an Irish officer in the British army, and his sophisticated upper-class English mother, Mary Davis Jackson, would encourage Sean=s creative talents. John Lucy had won a battlefield commission in World War I for bravery and leadership abilities. While recovering from severe wounds suffered in 1917, he enrolled in University College Cork, becoming friends with the future great writer, Sean O=Faolain. After resigning his commision in 1935, John Lucy worked for Radio Éireann and wrote There=s a Devil in the Drum, a well-received account of his World War I experiences. As World War II approached, he rejoined the British army and became a Colonel of the Irish Guards.
Sean spent most of his formative years in Ireland and earned his bachelor=s and master=s degrees in English at University College, Cork (National University of Ireland). In 1954, he moved to England, married Patricia Kennedy, a UCC student who doubled majored in French and German, served two years as an education officer in the British army and four as Senior English Master at the Christian Brothers= Prior Park College in Bath. In 1960, Sean returned to Ireland and joined the English faculty at University College, Cork, seven years later rising to the rank of professor and department chair. Sean was both a scholar and a poet. In 1960, he published T.S. Eliot and the Idea of Tradition (New York: Barnes Noble). His first collection of poems appeared in Five Irish Poets (Cork, Mercier Press, 1970). He was the sole author of another collection, Unfinished Sequences and Other Poems (Dublin Wolfhound Press, 1979). Sean=s poems and some essays have also appeared in many anthologies. He also edited a number of books, including Love Poems of the Irish (Cork: Mercier Press, 1967); Irish Poets in English (Cork: Mercier Press, 1972); Goldsmith, the Gentle Master (Cork: Cork University Press, 1984 & 1995).
According to Bill Savage, a former student and long-time friend of Sean and his family, and a member of the English department at Northwestern University, AIn his formally sophisticated and emotionally direct poetry, Sean engaged all of the themes great art has always grappled with: romantic love, death, and the nature of personal identity, the role of art and the artist in the world, and what it means to be fully human. His book on T.S. Eliot was the first work of scholarship to apply Eliot=s critical ideas to Eliot=s own poetry, and it is firmly in the canon of Eliot criticism.@ Inspired by the style of John Berryman and his own translations of poetry in Irish, Sean, in the 1970s, Adecided to change my poetic voice to something more inclusive and positive.@ Fionnuala MacLochlainn, an expert in the Irish language, has high praise for Sean=s translations.
Sean was an excellent teacher on both the undergraduate and graduate levels and inspired a number of his Irish and American students to be successful poets, fiction writers, and publishing scholars. In 1979, he co-founded the University College, Cork Summer school in Irish Studies, largely for American students. It was the first of many such programs in Irish universities. Sean was a close friend and colleague of distinguished literati, Irish studies scholars, journalists, musicians, artists, actors, and directors on both sides of the Atlantic. During his career, he lectured at quite a few colleges and universities in the United States. During the 1980-81 academic year, Sean was a visiting professor in the English department at Loyola University of Chicago.
Following his 1988 early retirement from the National University of Ireland, Cork, Sean permanently moved to Chicago, offering courses in Irish literature at Loyola University, the Newberry Library, and the Irish-American heritage Center. For many years he was active in the American Conference for Irish Studies and its Midwest regional branch. Sean added a rich flavor and intellectual content to Chicago=s Irish studies mix, and continued to write poetry and research Irish cultural history. He loved Chicago=s architecture, energy, and ethnic and racial mix, and his charm, courtesy, intellectual enthusiasm, and generosity of spirit won him numerous loyal friends and admirers.
On July 19, 2001, Sean had a heart attack followed by a fall that resulted in a serious head injury. He died in the Intensive Care Unit of St. Francis Hospital, Evanston on July 25. Sean is survived by his first wife, Patricia; daughters: Catherine (Howell) and Frances; sons: Brendan, John, and Fintan; and eight grandchildren. His second wife, Susan Lederman, died in September 1999. Sean=s body was cremated. After his ashes were scattered in his favorite place, Gougane Barra in West Cork, a private Catholic religious service for friends and family took place. In the near future, there will be a memorial service in Chicago.
I want to thank Frances Lucy, David Gardiner, Chris Lynch, Alf and Fionnuala MacLochlainn, Cita and John Murphy, and Bill Savage for refreshing my memories and enhancing my knowledge of Sean.
Lawrence J. McCaffrey
Professor of History (Emeritus)
Loyola University of Chicago