Jews in Irish Literature, London

The Irish Literary Society is engaging with writers and academics to reflect on ‘Representations of Jews in Irish Literature’. The innovative research project of the same title was developed out of NUI Galway and Ulster University and forms the centre of tonight’s event. The main objective of the project is to analyse representations of Jews in Irish literature from the earliest times to the present. The project is investigating references to Jews in Irish literature, whether in Irish or English, and is collecting more substantial references into an anthology of such writing. In addition to a talk on the findings we will be welcoming a novelist, poet and scriptwriter to read from and reflect on their work which explores Jewish-Irish connections.

The academic and creative work presented explores the processes of othering by investigating the forces in consciousness and culture which generate the assumptions, biases, stereotypes and myths out of which the Jewish other is produced. The representation of the Jew in Irish literature actually tells us much more about Irish than about Jewish identity, how in fact a whole psychohistory of Irishness is hidden in these neglected representations.

Presented in association with the Representations of the Jews in Irish Literature Project: