A thesis and a new journey

Hello, Dia duit, Bonjour and the rest of those wonderful salutations folks!

My name is Darragh, I’m a grad student at University College Cork currently working on my Masters thesis. I study English Literature having graduated in 2018 with my BA and chose to remain at my alma mater for one more year to complete an MA in Modern Literature and Film. During this time one of the skills we were encouraged to develop was blogging, in order to create an online presence as we develop as scholars. Having completed the assignment I decided it would be enjoyable to create my own personal blog where I could share the experience of writing my thesis this summer along with any other adventures that might crop up between now and September.

My areas of interest (not quite expertise just yet) are the works of Irish Modernist James Joyce and American author Kurt Vonnegut. Two writers whom I encountered during my undergraduate years. I read Joyce’s collection of short stories Dubliners in 1st year shortly after seeing a stage adaptation of his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It was a combination of these experiences and sheer curiosity that lead me to take on a special studies seminar on Ulysses, widely considered one of the most difficult works of English Literature, during the final year of my degree. Despite the book’s difficulty studying it in-depth became one of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate degree and truly cemented my desire to pursue postgraduate study. My first encounter with Vonnegut’s works came later in the same year when I studied his novel Breakfast of Champions for a module on American Postmodernism and fell in love with his wit and writing style. One of the true joys of studying any area of the arts is encountering artists and works that really speak to you and make you eager to learn more. For the next few months I will be writing my thesis on their works and hope to share my fascination with them with as many of you as possible.

Of course I plan on writing about other writers and books that I love and my various other passions such as film and popular culture (being nerdy). As I near the end of my Masters I will be setting out on another epic journey: job hunting! So I may keep you up to date on my progress looking for full time employment (here I come world!) Essentially I want this blog to be a record of this important time in my life as I continue to grow as a scholar and as a person. So please join me as I open my scholars notebook and share the journey with you. As Joyce writes in Ulysses: “Every life is many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves”

Featured image: Me with statue of James Joyce in Dublin