This article is from page 16 of the 2014-08-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
THE Director of the upcoming Merriman Summer School in Ennis believes the event remains relevant and important in shaping discussion in Irish society.
Speaking ahead of the school, which runs in Ennis from August 1317, Professor Patricia Coughlan says the events such as the Merriman still have a future.
“I absolutely think so. I’m a huge fan of them.
“I think it’s a place to thrash things out where people can have an input into what is a national discussion. I think it is a more thoughtful medium”, she says,
“The radio is very good. Television tends not to be so good for this because it tends to be soundbites.
“There are good discussions on radio but the constraints of time on a radio are very narrow.
“This is something more leisurely and something where you can draw things out a bit more”.
This year’s theme – Emotional Life in Ireland – will be discussed and debated by authors, academics and musicians.
Prof Coughlan, who is Professor Emerita in the School of English at UCC, says summer schools have a relevance beyond academic and literary circles.
“They do. I’m really a fan of summer schools, generally. It’s an Irish invention that doesn’t exist elsewhere.
“I think it’s one the things that we do really well. I hugely respect the people that attend summer schools because they are not necessarily people with influence.
“They are serious people who want to hear things trashed out and discussed. They take issues seriously and I think that’s a very positive sign of our culture”, she explains.
Prof Coughlan said she also made a conscious decision to invite more young speakers to the school.
She explains, “One of the parts of the brief was to engage some younger speakers and I very much sought to do that.
“That’s not to outlaw the older speakers. But looking at the programme, most of the speakers are actually under 50 and probably under 40, between the poets and all the other speakers.
“They are younger scholars and critics primarily. To be honest it was easier to find people doing this kind of research in the various disciplines and who were interested in discussing. It was actually easier to find younger people. It’s a topic that’s only coming into being discussable now.”