IADT + 1916 – The Other 1916 Conference – 3rd June 2016
The years 1916-1922 saw the nascent Irish nation take shape between the Easter Rising and the birth of the Irish Free State. The same years also function as a crucible for literary and artistic modernism, in which the relatively lean publication year of 1916 helps forge the explosion of publishing activity associated with modernism’s annus mirabilis, 1922. This conference seeks to re-evaluate narratives of 1916 within each of these contexts, with a particular focus on what has often been occluded from each of these narratives.
Specifically, it proposes to explore counter-narratives to the dominant discourses of 1916 in an Irish context. While the events of the 1916 Easter Rebellion occupy a central position in an understanding of Irish identity and the nation state, this dominant discourse often excludes alternative narratives in a broader national and international context. Significantly, 1916 also marked the publication of such key modernist texts as James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ferdinand de Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics; it saw the establishment (by James Mark Sullivan and Henry M. Fitzgibbon) of the Film Company of Ireland; and it marked the halfway point of the Great War, with the beginning of Battle of the Somme.
In this way, everyday Irish life in 1916 was influenced by a diverse range of cultural, social, and political factors. Therefore, this conference seeks to re-imagine the narrative(s) of 1916 with reference to these factors, as well as considering a broader European and international modernity through the lens of the intellectual and artistic material produced within that year.
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Lorgaíonn an chomhdháil seo chun athmheasúnú a dhéanamh ar scéalta faoi 1916 agus tagairt á déanamh don nua-aoiseachas náisiúnta agus Eorpach.
I gcaitheamh na mblianta 1916-1922, tháinig múnla ar náisiún nuaghinte na hÉireann idir Éirí Amach na Cásca agus cruthú Shaorstát Éireann. Feidhmíonn na blianta céanna mar bhreogán, chomh maith, le haghaidh an nua-aoiseachais liteartha agus ealaíonta, ina gcabhraíonn an bhliain 1916, bliain nár foilsíodh ach beagán foilseachán lena linn, le holl-leathadh na gníomhaíochta foilsithe a fhairsingiú a bhaineann le annus mirabilis an nua-aoiseachais, 1922. Lorgaíonn an chomhdháil seo chun athmheasúnú a dhéanamh ar scéalta 1916 laistigh de gach ceann de na comhthéacsanna seo, agus díriú ar leith ar an méid is minic a fhágtar ar lár ó gach ceann de na scéalta seo.
Go sonrach, beartaíonn an chomhdháil chun frithscéalta a fhiosrú i dtaobh phríomhdhioscúrsaí 1916 i gcomhthéacs Éireannach. Cé go nglacann imeachtaí Éirí Amach na Cásca 1916 suíomh lárnach i dtuiscint a fháil ar fhéiniúlacht Éireannach agus ar shuíomh an náisiúin, is minic a fhágann an dioscúrsa seo scéalta eile ar lár i gcomhthéacs níos fairsinge náisiúnta agus idirnáisiúnta. Is ábhar suntais é gur foilsíodh roinnt príomhthéacsanna nua-aoiseacha i 1916, chomh maith, ar nós A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, le Joyce agus Course in General Linguistics, le Ferdinand de Saussure; chomh maith leis sin, bunaíodh Cuideachta Scannán na hÉireann (ag James Mark Sullivan agus Henry M. Fitzgibbon); agus tharla seo ag pointe leathbhealach an Chéad Chogadh Domhanda, nuair a cuireadh tús le Cath an Somme.
Ar an mbealach seo, d’imir réimse fairsing tosca cultúrtha, sóisialta agus polaitiúla tionchar ar an saol laethúil i 1916. Ar an ábhar sin, lorgaíonn an chomhdháil chun athshamhlú a dhéanamh ar scéal(ta) 1916 agus tagairt á déanamh do na tosca seo, anuas ar mhachnamh a dhéanamh ar nua-aoiseachas níos fairsinge Eorpach agus idirnáisiúnta trí lionsa an ábhair intleachtaigh agus ealaíonta a cruthaíodh i gcaitheamh na bliana sin.