Irish Literature: From Moore to Enright

This carefully structured course is a general introduction to critically reading some of Ireland’s best known literature in the context of a progressing Ireland and also focussing on the locations of the novels. We will begin at the turn of the 20th century with Mayoman George Moore’s The Untilled Field, then proceed through the next century with James Joyce’s Dubliners, John McGahern’s Amongst Women, set in the midlands, and Pat McCabe’s The Butcher Boy as a representative of Ulster. We conclude with newer works in Claire Keegan’s Foster, set in Wexford, Ann Enright’s south-west in The Green Road, Eimear McBride’s west of Ireland background of A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, and Galway’s Mary Costello who provides an Irish narrator in the New York setting of Academy Street. By the end of the course, participants will have read and discussed a number of Ireland’s best-known authors and critically analysed their geographical settings and foundations. An exciting new course which would be ideal for the literary enthusiast or anyone preparing to study English at third level. Limited places Next Start Date: Thursday 13th February 2025 at 8-10pm Concludes Thursday 3rd April 2025. Duration: 8 weeks Venue: Online (Zoom) About the tutor: Dr Martin Keaveney is an Associate Lecturer in Irish Literature at University of Galway. His sixth book, Singsong, was published by Penniless Press in 2024. Schoolboy was published in 2023 by Penniless Press. This followed the novella Caravan in 2023, the second novel The Mackon Country (2021), the debut novel Delia Meade (2020) and a collection of stories, The Rainy Day (2018) all by Penniless Press, Warrington, UK. Fiction has previously been published in Ireland, UK and US. His current film ‘Superhurl’ is in development with The Film Fountain. Previous screen and stage credits include RTE, Scripts Ireland Playwriting Festival, Fastnet Film Festival (Irl) and Wasteland Film Festival (US) amongst many others. He completed a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Textual Studies (John McGahern) at NUIG. He has a B.A. in English and Italian and an M.A. in English (Writing) and an advanced certificate in media production. He was awarded the Sparanacht Ui Eithir in 2016 and the NUIG Write-Up Bursary in 2018 for academic research. He has presented at national and international academic conferences and recent scholarship has been published in the peer-reviewed journals New Hibernia Review, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies , Estudios Irlandeses, Liverpool Postgraduate Journal of Irish Studies and the Journal of Franco-Irish Studies.