One of the most successful summer schools in Ireland runs at UCC from
3rd to 28th July. This year, UCC's Faculty of Arts hosts the 27th
International Summer School in Irish Studies with students attending
from the United States, Russia, Italy, Czech Republic, Belgium, Hungary
and Spain as well as participants from Cork city and county.
The theme of this year's School is voyages of discovery. One of the
best-known examples of early Irish literature are the voyage tales, the
mythical stories of journeys by early Irish seafarers in search of the
Land of Promise. These journeys of the imagination allowed the Irish
free rein to conjure up in literature the far-off and exotic lands that
lay beyond their horizon. But, the early Irish also recorded
their real journeys to distant shores that led to encounters with other
peoples and cultures which in turn shaped Irish identity.
The programme included a field trip to Ardfert in County Kerry, the
site associated with Saint Brendan whose voyage is the best known of
the Voyage Tales. The second week explored another kind of voyage of
discovery: the journey made by many Irish people in the modern era to
the Americas in search of a better life.
Continuing the theme of voyages of discovery the literature section of
the Summer School traced the voyages, both literal and literary, of the
two great Irish writers, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde. Both Joyce and
Wilde left Ireland to write, but their literary imaginations were
focused on the world of Ireland as they had experienced it. Their
work is always informed by their sense of being Irish in a foreign
place. While their vision is often intensely focused on Ireland, the
perspective is that of the Irishman living abroad.
The Directors of the Summer School are Damian Bracken, Department of History, UCC and Mary Breen, Department of English, UCC.
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