1798/1998:
Back to the Present, Forward to the Past
Limerick, July 1998
1998
Conference at the University of Limerick
July 20 - 25 1998
The International
Association for the Study of Irish Literatures (IASIL) was founded in
1970 in Dublin. It is probably the most important association in the
world in the field of Irish Literary Studies; it is certainly the only
world-based one At first every three years, and then every year, members
gathered for a conference. At the 1996 conference in Hofstra, NY, the
University of Limerick put forward its case, and it was accepted against
the competing claim of two other universities based outside Ireland.
This year's
conference entitled "1798/1998: Back to the Future, Forward to
the Past" focuses on the interaction between Literature and History,
with the 1798 Rising in Literature as one of its major topics; but IASIL
1998 also features papers from a wide variety of other areas which emphasise
the vast scope and breadth of Irish Literary Studies.
The Conference
will be attended by well over 200 delegates from all over the world.
Speakers will include scholars from Ireland, Britain, France, Sweden,
Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Egypt, Brazil, Japan, Korea, and Australia, as well as many from the
USA and
Canada.
The IASIL
conferences regularly feature lectures from a number of keynote speakers,
eminent in their fields. This year's invited speakers are:
(a) Prof. Richard Kearney (UCD) who will speak on "History, Literature
and Irish Culture
(b) the historian Dr Margaret McCurtain (UCD) who will speak on "Women
in Literature and History";
(c) Prof. Mary Helen Thuente (Indiana) who will speak on "1798
and Literary Nationalism" and
(d) Prof John Wilson Foster, University of British Columbia, who will
speak on "The Cult of Unity in Ireland".
Authors who will be invited to read from their works include Cathal
Ó Searcaigh and a panel of Limerick writers organized by the
poet Ciaran
O'Driscoll.
The IASIL
1998 organizing committee consists of Dr Patricia Lynch (Convenor),
Dr Brian Coates, Dr Joachim Fischer, Dr Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin,
all Lecturers in the Dept. of Languages and Cultural Studies, University
of Limerick.
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