"A Terrible Beauty: The importance in literary history of the 1916 Irish Easter Rising." 2016 is the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin when Irish revolutionaries proclaimed an Irish Republic. Completely defying British rule and authority, the rebel leaders, Padraig Pearse, James Connolly, and Thomas Clarke commanded about 1,500 Irish rebels who seized key buildings in the heart of the city on Easter Monday, April 24. Their rebellion and their subsequent execution were pivotal in laying the groundwork for an independent modern Irish state. This colloquium will examine the multi-layered political and cultural factors leading to this rebellion against British rule, its importance in Irish literary history to writers as varied as W.B. Yeats, Sean O'Casey, and James Joyce, and its central role in founding the Irish Republic.
Bio: Originally from Dublin (many years ago!), Patrick O'Donnell is a full-time faculty member in the English Department and also the Artistic Director of the nonprofit literary arts group, the Celtic Collaborative, whose production Ghosts of 1916, he directed and produced in April in St. Paul. He was also a contributing writer and co-editor of the anthology: The Harp and the Loon: Literary Bridges between Ireland and Minnesota.
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