A Message from EAAS President Hans-Jürgen Grabbe
Dear fellow Americanists,
Trinity College, The Clinton Centre at University College Dublin and the Irish Association for American Studies are welcoming us to Baile Átha Cliath, príomhchathair na hÉireann (i.e. Dublin, capital of Ireland; it is about time that everybody gets used to a little bit of Gæilge).
I have just returned from a fact-finding mission and met with my co-officer Stephen Matterson, IAAS president Aoileann ní Eigeartaigh and other colleagues of the organizing team.
Since I took some pictures, I thought I would let you catch a few glimpses of the venues. The Elizabethan and Georgian splendor of Trinity College and the tasteful, spacious modernity of University College make a perfect environment.
The conference opening and the Sunday and Monday lectures, workshops, and shoptalks will take place at Trinity. Take a look at the as yet empty space of the Edmund Burke Hall where the General Meeting, the conference opening and the first of the keynote addresses will be held:
Saturday finds us on the campus of University College Dublin. Just board bus no. 10. It will have reached its final destination, UCD, in about twenty minutes. The fare is € 1.80. And don't forget to have the exact amount ready since the driver won't give you change!
UCD also boasts a modern, sunlit cafeteria which will offer food and refreshments on Saturday. Since Trinity is located in the center of a city famous for its hospitality, you will find restaurants and bars galore in the immediate vicinity.
Needless to say, EAAS conferences offer food for the body and the mind. 165 academics from all over Europe and the United States of America will present their findings and ideas. Such eminent scholars and writers as JoAnne Mancini, Greil Marcus, Susan Castillo, Simon P. Newman, Eva-Sabine Zehelein, Marek Wilczyński, Roberta Maierhofer, Nikita Pokrovsky, and—last but not least—Russell Duncan will give keynote addresses and parallel lectures. The conference organizers have set aside time slots for the traditional literature, history, and American Studies shoptalks. There will also be special shoptalks for women and for young European Americanists.
Another highlight will be a workshop on Irish-American interactions featured by the IAAS, and a panel discussion, including contributions by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, on their fresh-from-the-press New Literary History of America.
The Dublin Conference is going to be my first as president of EAAS. I will report to you on the activities and development of our association over the last two years at the General Meeting on Friday afternoon just before the conference officially opens. This is a good opportunity for information and exchange and I strongly encourage all conference participants to attend. The first recipient of the EAAS Rob Kroes Publication Award, Astrid Franke, will be honored and the winner of the American Studies Network Book Prize announced at the General Meeting.
Have a safe journey to Dublin! I look forward to seeing you there. And please register right away through the dedicated website of the Dublin organizers.
Warm regards,
Hans-Jürgen Grabbe
