Literature & Travel: Irish Writers in Japan

Please join us for the first seminar of the academic year:

Literature and Travel: 

Irish Writers in Japan 

Nicoletta Asciuto & Amy Finch

Durham University

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Wednesday, 31st October 2012

5:30 – 7:00 pm

Department of English Studies, Hallgarth House Seminar Room

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"GHOSTS AND BUTTERFLIES: SUPERNATURAL STORIES BETWEEN IRELAND AND JAPAN"

Nicoletta Asciuto, English Studies, Durham

ABSTRACT

Nicoletta's paper will deal with supernatural stories written by William Butler Yeats and Lafcadio Hearn and their recurring images of ghosts and butterflies as spirits of the dead, showing how they actually have much in common - a shared sensibility to supernatural, and a similar lack of distinction
between dream and reality - despite their being written in two countries miles apart from each other.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

 Nicoletta completed her BA in Foreign Languages and Literatures at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, in 2009. She then moved to Trinity College Dublin for her master's degree in Comparative Literature, and she is now a PhD candidate at Durham, focussing on T. S. Eliot's imagery of light. Her interests range from cinema and photography to Chinese and Japanese culture.

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"JAPAN AND EARLY IRISH LYRICS IN THE POETRY OF JOHN HEWITT, SEAMUS HEANEY AND PAUL MULDOON"
Amy Finch, English Studies, Durham
ABSTRACT

Amy's paper argues that contemporary Northern Irish poets identify a fundamental similarity between early Irish and Japanese poetry. Three poets - John Hewitt, Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon - explore the creative possibilities opened up by such cross-cultural dialogue. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Amy completed a Bachelor's degree in English Literature at Durham University in 2009, then a Master's degree in English Literature (1900-present) at the University of Oxford. She is now a second year PhD candidate at Durham University, focusing on mid-twentieth century Northern Irish poetry.

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