Adopting a thematic and chronological approach, these lectures investigated the depiction of Jews and Jewishness in Ireland from the Annals of Inisfallen in the medieval period, then through to centuries of poetry, prose and drama to the present day. Exploring the relationship between Jews and Ireland as found in the literary record, it revealed both the prejudices of writers who often had little or no direct contact with Jews and, later, an emerging Irish-Jewish literary sphere that shows a vibrant, vocal community at ease with its hyphenated sense of identity and culture. It also acknowledged the fraught past faced by a minority culture in Ireland and how this culture sought recognition and found accommodation on this island, and ultimately, found its place in the pantheon of Irish history, writing, and society.

To listen to the lectures click here.

Wednesday 6 July

‘Representations of Jews in Irish Literature (1590-1922)’ – Barry Montgomery

 

Wednesday 20 July 

‘Representations of Jews in twentieth-century Gaelic literature’ – Rióna Ní Fhrighil