Senior Times Books

James Joyce Part One

Prof . Derek Hand Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences DCU discusses the life of James Joyce with Gary Cooke.

A Celebration of Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett who was he ... Gary Cooke visits DCU to meet Associate Professor in the School of English at DCU Michael Hinds to discuss ... Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic experiences of life, often coupled with black comedy and nonsense. Beckett was a literary legend of the 20th century. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1906, he was educated at Trinity College. During the 1930s and 1940s he wrote his first novels and short stories. During World War II, Samuel Beckett’s Irish citizenship allowed him to remain in Paris as a citizen of a neutral country. He fought in the resistance movement until 1942 when members of his group were arrested by the Gestapo. He and his wife fled to the unoccupied zone until the end of the war. After the war, Samuel Beckett was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery during his time in the French resistance. He settled in Paris and began his most prolific period as a writer. In five years, he wrote Eleutheria, Waiting for Godot, Endgame, the novels Malloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, and Mercier et Camier, two books of short stories, and a book of criticism. Samuel Beckett continued to write throughout the 1970s and 80s mostly in a small house outside Paris. There he could give total dedication to his art evading publicity. In 1969, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, though he declined accepting it personally to avoid making a speech at the ceremonies. However, he should not be considered a recluse. He often times met with other artists, scholars and admirers to talk about his work. By the late 1980s, Samuel Beckett was in failing health and had moved to a small nursing home. Suzanne, his wife, had died in July 1989. His life was confined to a small room where he would receive visitors and write. He died on December 22, 1989

A Celebration of Patrick Kavanagh: Part Two

The second part of a 3 part series of podcasts featuring Patrick Kavanaghs life Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel Tarry Flynn, and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". Patrick is also known for his accounts of Irish life through reference to the everyday and commonplace. Gary Cooke discusses Patrick Kavanaghs Life in a 3 part podcast series alongside Dr Michael Hinds who is an Associate Professor in the School of English at Dublin City University. Michael is the founder of the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies at the Mater Dei Institute, where he was Senior Lecturer and Head of English. He also started the journal POST: A Review of Poetry Studies while there. From 1996-9, he was a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Tokyo, and retains an interest in the culture of Japan, as well as its representation elsewhere. Michaels main interest is in American literature, however, and has published widely on it, with a particular emphasis on American poetry and its intersection with popular culture. In 2006, he edited Rebound: The American Poetry Book (Rodopi) with Stephen Matterson. He has been a regular contributor to the Dublin Review of Books since 2010. He is currently working on an exploration of poetry’s anguished relationship to money, unimaginatively entitled Moneypoetry.

A Celebration of Patrick Kavanagh: Part One

The First of a new series of podcasts featuring the lives of some some of Irelands most celebrated poets . We begin the series with Patrick Kavanagh .... Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel Tarry Flynn, and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". Patrick is also known for his accounts of Irish life through reference to the everyday and commonplace. Gary Cooke discusses Patrick Kavanaghs Life in a 3 part podcast series alongside Professor in English Michael Hinds of Dublin City University. Patrick Kavanagh was born in rural Inniskeen, County Monaghan, in 1904, the fourth of ten children of James Kavanagh and Bridget Quinn. His grandfather was a schoolteacher called "Kevany", which a local priest changed to "Kavanagh" at his baptism. The grandfather had to leave the area following a scandal and never taught in a national school again, but married and raised a family in Tullamore. Patrick Kavanagh’s father, James, was a cobbler and farmer. Kavanagh’s brother Peter became a university professor and writer, two of their sisters were teachers, three became nurses, and one became a nun. Claddagh records have allowed us to share some of the wonderful recordings taken from the Album Almost Everything.