11a.m. 10/27 (Thurs) in AUST 202
Cóilín PARSONS
Cartography, Big Data, and Irish Writing
How are the history of cartography and literature related? What did the beginning of Big Data in Ireland look like, and how does it relate to Irish literature? This talk by Cóilín Parsons, Associate Professor of English at Georgetown University, author of The Ordnance Survey and Modern Irish Literature (OUP, 2016) and co-editor of Relocations: Reading Culture in South Africa (Cape Town UP, 2015), uses the mapping of the Aran Islands in the 1830s as a case study with which to examine these questions, and asks how J.M. Synge’s prose classic, The Aran Islands, emerged from and responded to a colonial mapmaking project. The story is a surprising one of the deep and lasting impact of cartography on the Irish cultural landscape. Two previews:
http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/more-than-a-map-the-ordnance-survey-s-huge-but-hidden-cultural-impact-1.2775599
http://blog.oup.com/2016/10/data-analysis-literature/
Sponsored by IRISH STUDIES and the department of ENGLISH
For more information, contact: Mary Burke at mary.burke@uconn.edu