December 2016 Representations of Jews in Irish Literature – Exhibition to open in Galway

NUI Galway and Ulster University are pleased to announce the launch of an exhibition on the Representations of Jews in Irish Literature, at 6pm on Wednesday 7 December in the James Hardiman Library, Room G010. The exhibition will be launched by Mr Stanley Price, author of Somewhere to Hang My Hat. An Irish-Jewish Journey and James Joyce and Italo Svevo: The Story of a Friendship.

The exhibition is the first major output of a three-year research project funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. It charts the representations of Jewish identity, culture and life in Ireland from medieval through to modern times. It examines the portrayal of Jews in the literary record alongside the contribution of Irish-Jewish writers to Irish literature and celebrates this unique hyphenated identity.

Having had a very successful debut in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin in June 2016, the travelling exhibition has been in a number of venues, including Armagh, Belfast and Coleraine. The exhibition will be hosted in NUI Galway from 7 December 2016 until Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January 2017. After Galway it will travel to Waterford, New York and Berlin.

Principal Investigator for the project, Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh, Registrar and Deputy President of NUI Galway, commented: “The exhibition is testament to the fact that Irish literature reveals a cultural diversity that goes far beyond narrow stereotypes. In Galway, we will also feature some artefacts of relevance to Jewish life in Galway, and I am delighted to be bringing this exhibition to Galway.”

Director for the Centre of Irish and Scottish Studies at Ulster University and Project Team member, Dr Frank Ferguson also said: “This is a very significant project for Irish literary studies and one which shall make a major contribution to our understanding of the history and the cultural expression of Jews in Ireland. It is marvellous to see the interest that the project has already gained since its first official launch last summer.”

The exhibition and launch are free to attend but booking for the launch is recommended.

Those seeking further details and to attend the exhibition launch should contact Marie Kennedy by email or by telephone at: +353 91 492121 | email: registrar@nuigalway.ie

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