Preparing for Irish Book & Music Celebration Oct.3-5

Last week I posted a blog expressing my elation being invited to be one of seventeen authors participating in the 2014 Irish Book and Music Celebration October 3-5 in Chicago, www.ibam.com.  I will be meeting readers and signing books six hours each day on Saturday and Sunday.

In addition to selling books I will be participating on an authors’ panel.  The panel will be an hour discussion with questions and answers from audience members on the topic of:  Since the late 19th Century, Irish Literature has caught the attention of the world.  What is it about Irish writing that gives it such a universal appeal?   The celebration organizer, Cliff Carlson, let me know that Frank Delaney may also be participating on the panel.

NPR has called Frank Delaney the most eloquent man in the world.  No pressure there, participating on a panel with the most eloquent man in the world.  Delaney is also a respected Booker Prize judge, an author of fiction and non-fiction, a journalist and a broadcaster.  If he joins the panel it guarantees a large audience.  To be honest, it’s also frightening.   I think most would agree that Mr. Delaney is a scholar of Irish Literature and his view on the topic will be informed and persuasive.  The topic is very broad and open to many subjective viewpoints.

I decided that in order to contribute anything useful to the discussion I would need to do hours of research so I began that process this week.  All I can say is thank God for Google.  I spent about fifteen hours this week surfing the net to learn more about the history and influence of Irish literature.

The first thing I learned was that not everyone agrees on defining the question.  Some include drama in the definition and the creation of the Irish Literary Theatre in 1899 by W.B. Yeats and others which became the Abbey Theatre.  Drama from Yeats,  G.B. Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Lady Gregory and J.M. Synge were performed there.  Since both Yeats and Shaw received the Nobel Prize for literature I think drama should be included in a comprehensive definition of Irish literature.

Next, I learned there is some dispute on what is meant by Irish Literature.  The purist would argue that Irish literature is written in the Irish language.  When Irish authors write in the English language I learned the correct term is Anglo-English.  For me this is academic even though technically it is certainly correct.  When the international community reads Irish authors they are reading English so I don’t think this point is worth arguing.

Another problematic question is the issue of expatriate authors such as Joyce and Samuel Becket.  Becket presents a real problem because he also published in French and was both a novelist and dramatist.  While Joyce lived on the continent all of his published work was set in Dublin, psychologically he never left his homeland.  From the average readers’ perspective I think this is also an academic argument.  Becket received the Nobel Prize as an Irish writer and for me that settles the question.

From a novice’s perspective the most perplexing aspect of the research is that there are so many questions, I haven’t covered all of them in this blog.  In future weeks I’ll share with you my continued journey to research and prepare for participating on the author’s panel.

I need your help.  Let me know why you think that internationally Irish literature has a unique appeal and popularity with readers.

Personal note:  Tomorrow is 9/11 – we must never forget the innocent sacrificed to terrorism.