The Body and Mind

The Body and Mind

In this segment, Professor Declan Kiberd will situate the series within our current collective experience of the coronavirus pandemic as daily attention is drawn to the vulnerability of our bodies. Introducing readers to two major Irish authors, James Joyce and W.B. Yeats, Kiberd will explain how their work invites readers to interrogate the body and its relationship to the mind, to pain, to history, and to creative expression.

Meet the Instructor

Presented by Declan Kiberd

Declan Kiberd is the Emeritus Donald and Marilyn Keough Professor of Irish Studies and Professor of English and Irish Language and Literature.

Declan Kiberd Lecturing at Graduate Irish Seminar, 2018 Keough Naughton Irish Seminar

Professor Kiberd is a native of Dublin who counted the novelist John McGahern among his earliest schoolteachers. Kiberd studied at Trinity College in Dublin before earning a doctoral degree at Oxford under the direction of Richard Ellmann, the biographer of James Joyce, William Butler Yeats and Oscar Wilde. Kiberd has taught at the University of Kent, Trinity College, and University College Dublin.

A faculty fellow in the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies who came to Notre Dame in 2011, Professor Kiberd is an Irish language speaker and a scholar of Celtic culture and Irish literature and history. He has lectured in some 30 countries worldwide and contributes essays and reviews to the Irish Times, the Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books, and The New York Times. In 2019, Professor Kiberd was distinguished by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AALS) when he was elected to their membership honoring his contribution to research.

Professor Kiberd’s most recent book, After Ireland: Writing the Nation from Beckett to the Present was published by Harvard University Press in 2018 and is the third volume of a trilogy that began with Inventing Ireland and continued with Irish Classics, a book that dealt with authors who wrote in both Irish and English language. Kiberd is currently finishing a book called Beckett Unknown: Mysticism without God and a short book about cricket, England and eternity.  

Pre-Readings

The Body & Mind

Presented by Declan Kiberd

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Featured Speakers: 

  • Declan Kiberd, Emeritus Donald and Marilyn Keough Professor of Irish Studies and Professor of English and Irish Language and Literature
  • Deirdre Mulrooney, writer, filmmaker, radio documentarian, and dance historian
  • Evanna Lynch, actress, podcaster, and activist

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Article: The lost story of James Joyce’s daughter as a Parisian dancer

James Joyce’s daughter Lucia was a remarkable dancer – something that has been buried in her troubled history.

Read the full article written by Deirdre Mulrooney here.

Join the live virtual event

Presented by Declan Kiberd

Ask questions and listen to a live discussion with Professor Declan Kiberd on Wednesday, August 5, at 1 pm EDT. Register to receive information about how to join the live event.

Special Guests during our live event will be:

Deirdre Mulrooney is a writer, filmmaker, radio documentarian, and dance historian. Her films include Lucia Joyce: Full CapacityDance EmergencyTrue North and 1943 – A Dance Odyssey. Mulrooney’s books include Irish Moves and The Nomadic Work of Pina Bausch, which was her Ph.D. She is currently a UCD Arts and Humanities Creative Fellow.

Evanna Lynch is an actress, podcaster, and activist. She is widely known for her portrayal of Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter film series. Her most recent acting credits include a run of Enda Walsh’s cult classic play, Disco Pigs, and Ryan Craig’s Games For Lovers. She currently lives in London where she spends her time writing and working to promote animal rights and veganism. Lynch stars in Lucia Joyce: Full Capacity—a short dance film conceived and directed by Deirdre Mulrooney.

The Song of Wandering Aengus

Presented by Declan Kiberd

Inspired by the aisling tradition in Irish poetry, “The Song of Wandering Aengus” by W.B. Yeats provides an exploration of the creative process as the unconscious is set free and manifests itself through art.

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