SOFIA UNIVERSITY “ST. KLIMENT OHRIDSKI”. 15th-16th June 2015.
“Ireland and Europe: Cultural and Literary Encounters” is an international conference organised by the Department of English and American Studies. It is open to post-graduates and all academic specialists in the broad research field of Irish cultural, literary and linguistic studies.
The release of Bloomsbury’s 2013 ‘The Reception of British and Irish Authors in Europe’ series with its monographs devoted to Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, and W.B Yeats continues a growing trend of research devoted to the impact that Irish culture and language makes in countries all across the European continent: East and West.
“Ireland and Europe: Cultural and Literary Encounters” is a further occasion to debate on “Ireland” within a European context. Our intention is to create a forum of discussion that puts no restrictions on academic approaches or methodologies. We encourage input from as broad an academic public as can be collected together.
The deadline for submissions is April 1st 2015. Please send a 250 word abstract along with affiliation details and a brief academic biography to the following address: jonathan.mccreedy84@gmail.com.
All topics relating to the main theme of the conference are welcome. Investigations may include, but are not limited to, the following areas of study:
- Hiberno-English: phonology and phonetics. Diachronic studies. Dialectology.
- Linguistic typology: Hiberno-English and European languages.
- Teaching Hiberno-English in Europe. Introducing cultural backgrounds.
- W.B Yeats and James Joyce (special anniversary panels).
- European artistic reception of Irish literature.
- Translation studies. Cross cultural and socio-psychological difficulties.
- The publishing of Irish literature in Europe.
- Migration studies, literature of exile and travel writing: Katherine Wilmot. Samuel Beckett. The Irish and European Diasporas in literature. Crossing boundaries between cultures and customs. Trauma and conflict.
- Irish literature on the topic of the Balkans (special panel): George Bernard Shaw. Oscar Wilde. Bram Stoker. Olivia Manning. Dervla Murphy. Hubert Butler. Seamus Heaney.
- Cultural revivalism. Comparative studies of European mythical cycles.
- The Irish Literary Revival and the Bulgarian National Revival.
- Representations of Ireland in European literature and media: William Thackeray, Anthony Trollope.
- James Bourchier and Irish journalism in Bulgaria.
- European cultural stereotypes: the “Stage Irishman”. Aleko Konstantinov.
- The 2007 performance of J.M Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World (“Плейбоят от джендема”) in Lovech (directed by Николай Поляков).
Suggestions for further exploration include:
W.B Yeats and James Joyce: ‘Yeats Day’ and ‘Bloomsday’ anniversary panels:
The European reception to Yeats and Joyce. European philosophical and literary-critical perspectives.
Yeats and Joyce amongst European writers. Yeats, Joyce and linguistics. New versus old approaches to Yeats and Joyce studies. Translation and performance of prose poetry and drama. Joyce, Yeats and European copyright laws.
Joyce and the Balkans: Joyce and the Crimean War (Finnegans Wake: Book II, Chapter 3). Joyce and Slavic languages (Finnegans Wake “Buffalo” notebook VI.B.46). Ulysses, Leopold Bloom and Szombathley. Pre-1990′s political censorship.
Hiberno-English and European languages:
Historical and social development. Irish Gaelic. Variation of pronunciation. Grammatical systems, sound systems, pronunciation, and patterns of intonation. Substratum language influences. Post-colonialism. The Irish-speaking Gaeltacht and declining languages in Europe. Urban and rural varieties. Differences between Hiberno-English, British English and American English. Modern Hiberno-English and Ulster Scots. Hiberno-English in English Renaissance literature: Shakespeare, Ben Johnson and Thomas Dekker.
Irish literature on the topic of the Balkans: (special panel)
George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man (set in the Dragoman Pass during the Serbian-Bulgarian war). Oscar Wilde’s “Balkan” sonnets: “Sonnet on the Massacre of Christians in Bulgaria”; “Quantum Mutata”; and “Liberatis Sacra Fames”. Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Olivia Manning’s The Balkan Trilogy. Dervla Murphy’s Through the Embers of Chaos: Balkan Journeys.
Cultural revivalism:
The Irish literary revival “Celtic Twilight” and the Bulgarian National Revival. Tale-types. National mythical cycles: the Ulster Cycle, Beowulf, and the Nibelungenlied. National identity. Antiquarianism. Religious Festivals and Spiritualism. Eco-criticism. Irish versus Greek tragedy – the ‘Ulster’ and ‘Longes mac uUsilenn’ cycles.