Skip navigation

UCD Search

 

Series 1: The Art of Popular Culture

PJ Matthews

Series Editor's Introduction from PJ Mathews

The aim of this series is to offer insights into key moments in the story of Irish popular culture since the publication of Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies in the early nineteenth century. If the story of transnational Irish popular culture begins with Thomas Moore in the early nineteenth century, it wasn't until the end of the 1800s that writers and intellectuals began to theorize the impact of mass cultural production on the Irish psyche during the industrial century. In 1892 Douglas Hyde, sounding the keynote of the Irish Revival, wrote that: 'the present art products of one of the quickest, most sensitive, and most artistic races on earth are now only distinguished for their hideousness'. In the course of his influential essay, 'The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland', he built up a narrative of Irish cultural degeneration brought on by the un-thinking absorption of what he perceived to be vulgar British pop culture.

PJ Mathews is Director of UCDscholarcast and lectures in the School of English, Drama and Film at UCD.

ALL EPISODES

PJ Matthews

Series 1 Introduction

PJ Mathews, School of English, Drama and Film, UCD

PJ Matthews

Episode 1: Doing Something Irish: From Thomas Moore to Riverdance

PJ Mathews, School of English, Drama and Film, UCD

The Boy as National Hero

Episode 2: The Boy as National Hero: The legacy of Cúchulainn

Elaine Sisson, School of Creative Arts, Dun Laoghaire IADT

Eddie Holt

Episode 3: W.B. Yeats, Journalism and the Revival

Scholarcast 3: Eddie Holt, School of Communications, DCU

Anne Fogarty

Episode 4: James Joyce and Popular Culture

Anne Fogarty, School of English, Drama and Film, UCD

Clair Wills

Episode 5: Neutrality and Popular Culture

By Clair Wills, Dept of English, Queen Mary, Univerity of London

Paige Reynolds

Episode 6: Hollywood and Contemporary Irish Drama

Paige Reynolds, Dept of English, Holy Cross College

Bill Whelan

Episode 7: Globalising Irish Music

Bill Whelan, Composer, Riverdance

Frank McGuinness

Episode 8: Filming Friel: Lughnasa on Screen

Frank McGuinness, Writer-in-Residence, School of English, UCD

Need help listening or subscribing to Scholarcast episodes? Please refer to our 'How to use this podcast page' for help.

SERIES CREDITS

Series edited by: PJ Mathews.
Scholarcast original theme music by: Padhraic Egan, Michael Hussey and Sharon Hussey.
Recording, audio editing, photography and development by: John Matthews, Brian Kelly, Vincent Hoban &
Niall Watts at UCD IT Services, Media Services.
Consultant Producer: Clíodhna Ní Anluain, RTÉ

Want to find out about Scholarcast and how it is produced? Please refer to our 'About Scholarcast' page for more info.