DATE: 2 February 2016
VENUE: Physics Theatre, Newman House, 85 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2
Joyce’s revolutionary novel depicting the personal and intellectual struggles of Stephen Dedalus as a schoolboy and UCD student was published in New York on 29 December 1916. Personally 1916 was a talismanic year for Joyce but he was also keenly aware of its political importance and worked determinedly to ensure that his text appeared in this key year. A Portrait was in effect Joyce’s contribution to 1916.
This project will probe the legacy and impact of A Portrait, investigating its importance as a revolutionary text and as a work of world literature reflecting on crucial years in Irish history through the optics of the Bildungsroman, a form he completely reinvents. The lecture series will allow for an examination of the cultural contexts of 1916 as a pivotal year in the formation of the nation and of UCD as an institution. The lectures will also create a space for reviewing the continuing but changing significance of Joyce in Irish cultural history and of A Portrait as a quintessential Irish text and a classic of international literature.
The Coming-of-Age-Novel After Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1916-2016, 2 February 2016
UCD James Joyce Research Centre in association with the James Joyce Centre, 35 North Great George’s Street
Physics Theatre, Newman House, 85 St Stephen’s Green, 18.30
Readings and talks by Belinda McKeon, Paul Murray and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne followed by a discussion
For bookings contact www.jamesjoyce.ie (under Education) or anne.fogarty@ucd.ie