EVER HAD A GREAT IDEA OR FASCINATION FOR IRISH LITERATURE?

Then a couple of residential courses at prestigious Dillington House conference and adult education centre, near Ilminster, Somerset, will, without doubt, satisfy your intrigue.

Enjoy the craic while getting an insight into some of the most important words and ideas of the 20th century.

Sadly you won't be able to attend them both because they run concurrently from Friday 5 February to Sunday 7 February.

But there's always the chance to swap notes after a sumptuous meal and drinks at the foremost meeting place in the south west.

The Modern Irish Literature course will cover a broad range of fiction, drama and poetry since the late 19th century until the present day.

The life and work of writers such as W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, Elizabeth Bowen, Sean O'Casey, Seamus Heaney, Edna O'Brien and Roddy Doyle will be studied in historical and cultural context and will be examined in relation to issues of nation, gender and emigration.

The tutor is author Tony Murray, PhD, MA Cultural Studies, BA (Hons), and Deputy Director of the Irish Studies Centre at London Metropolitan University. He has taught Irish and English Literature for many years and has run the annual Irish Writers in London Summer School since its inception in 1996.

Meanwhile the Great Ideas of the Twentieth Century course, with Dr Derek Tatton, will unpack and openly discuss some of the really important political and cultural themes of the last century.

Through participative discussions, the origins, development and legacy of six ideas or themes will be examined.

Taking the British NHS as an example the group will ask why this feature of The Welfare State has remained a popular great idea despite its origins in socialist principles and why it remains off-limits to all but the most right-wing of critics.

Other subjects will include the development of the mass media and its effects on our ideas of what constitute art and culture; the social impact of science and technology via, for example, the Internet, and lastly ecology and the green movement and the challenge of climate change.

This course is run in association with the Raymond Williams Foundation, a Welsh academic, novelist and critic. An influential figure on the political left, his writings on politics, culture, the mass media and literature remain significant. His work laid the foundations for the academic field of cultural and critical studies.

Residential fees for the course start at £177 per person and include en-suite accommodation, meals and refreshments.

For bookings and further information call Denise Borer on 01460 258613

email: dillington@somerset.gov.uk

www.dillington.com