The Irish In Fiction: A Book Discussion with Dr. John Tully

LITCHFIELD, Conn. - March 1, 2016 - PRLog -- Join Dr. John Day Tully as he leads this three-part series featuring the Irish in Fiction.

Irish Americans have a rich literary history, one that encompasses the sweep of their history in the United States. Novels, in particular, have been a way for Irish Americans to explore issues of family, religion, politics, assimilation, and alienation. Our reading group and discussions will focus on three of the most iconic and insightful works in this long tradition.

Dr. John Day Tully will provide an historical context of both the novels and their settings within the wider struggles of Irish Americans to find their own identity and meaning. The legacy of those efforts live on in every Irish American family today.

The Irish in Fiction Series will explore Ironweed by William Kennedy on March 13, Brooklyn byColm Tólbínon April 10, and Charming Billy by Alice McDermott on May 15.

March 13: Ironweed-Ironweed, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is the remarkable story of Francis Phelan, once a talented major league baseball player, husband, and father of three, who has fallen so far from grace that his home for the past twenty-two years has been the street. Author William Kennedy takes us into the mind and heart of a homeless vagrant and explores the situations which have brought Francis to this heartbreaking station in life.

Dr. John Tully is a Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University and the author of Ireland and Irish Americans, 1932- 1945: The Search for Identity, published by Irish Academic Press. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Clinton Institute for American Studies at University College, Dublin, and has presented papers at meetings of the American Conference for Irish Studies and the American Historical Association. In April, he will be presenting at the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Books will be available to borrow one month in advance. All Oliver Wolcott Library events are free and open to the public. Space is limited. Registration is required and can be done by calling 860-567-8030 or logging onto www.owlibrary.org and clicking on Programs/Adult Programs.  This program is generously funded by the Warshasky Fund.