Imagining Donegal in Language, Literature, Art and Theatre: Peadar O’Donnell, AE (George Russell) & Brian Friel

This week-long course will examine highlights from Peadar O’Donnell’s classic novel of Donegal island life, Islanders (1928); view the mystical art and selections from the poetry of AE (George Russell) from 1904-1934; and discuss specific scenes from three of Brian Friel’s history-infused plays set in Donegal: The Enemy Within (1962), Translations (1980), and Dancing at Lughnasa (1990).

• Peadar O’Donnell (1893-1986), born into an Irish-speaking family in west Donegal, was a prominent Irish republican, socialist politician, writer and radical thinker. Two of his most well-known works, Islanders and Adrigoole, were translated into Irish by Seosamh Mac Grianna as Muintir an Oileáin and Eadarbhaile, respectively.
• George Russell (1867-1935), also known as AE, was a political thinker, economist, rural reformer, publisher, editor, poet, artist, and visionary. Few of his contemporaries came close to matching Russell in the sheer breadth of his contribution to public life. AE visited Donegal to paint annually for three decades and was a friend of Kingsley Porter, owner of Glenveagh Castle.
• Dramatist Brian Friel (1929-2015) today enjoys the most widespread acclaim of our three subjects. Over the course of a sixty-year career, Friel examined the tangled relationships between nationality, history, language and narrative, with large, intergenerational casts of characters. His work was influenced by his upbringing in the rural north of Ireland, with more than a dozen of Friel’s works set in the fictional Donegal town of Ballybeg.

The course will be delivered through a mixture of guided readings, group discussions and reflective activities. Participants will be provided with excerpts from the relevant texts in advance of the course start date. A lively programme of events including field trips, guest speakers, and evening activities, as well as the social format of the courses at Oideas Gael, means this will be an enjoyable and rewarding week for all those with a passion for Irish culture.

Course Directors

Dr. Patrick O’Donnell: Originally from Dublin, Dr. Patrick O’Donnell is a Professor of English at Normandale Community College in Minneapolis, MN, USA. He completed his B.A., his M.A. in Anglo-Irish literature, and his Ph.D at University College Dublin. He is Director of Education at Celtic Junction Arts Center, Minnesota’s Irish cultural center, and an Irish Studies writer, editor, literary historian, and scholar who edits and writes for the quarterly online publication, Celtic Junction Arts Review and focuses on bridges and connections between Minnesota and Ireland (such as Brian Friel’s time at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in 1963). He is the founder/co-director of the annual Irish Arts Week in St. Paul, MN. He was the Co-Chair of the AE Festival in Lurgan and Armagh and International Vice-Chair of the George Russell Society in 2023 and was elected Chairman of the international AE Society in July, 2024.

Réamonn Ó Ciaráin: Réamonn Ó Ciaráin is CEO of Gael Linn. Gael Linn is an entrepreneurial organisation that aims to foster and promote the Irish language and its heritage throughout Ireland as a living language and as an expression of identity. Réamonn was born and raised in Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh. He holds a degree in Education and Celtic Studies from Saint Mary’s University College, Belfast, an MA in Irish Studies from Queen’s University, Belfast, and an MA in Cultural Management from Ulster University. He has authored three books on Cúchulainn, as well as articles in a variety of publications. He is a co-founder and mainstay Board member of Aonach Mhacha, a new Cultúrlann in Armagh City, and was formerly Chairman of An tUltach, the Comhaltas Uladh magazine.