James Silas Rogers Discusses Irish in America
10/25/2010
 James Silas Rogers, noted author, editor, and poet and managing director of the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Center for Irish Studies, will venture south to share his expertise on the Irish in America in his lecture, “The ‘Greatest Generation’ Irish Style: The Mid-Twentieth Century Reinvention of the Irish in America.” The lecture will be held at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 18 on the University of St. Thomas campus, Scanlan Room, Jerabeck Center, 4000 Mt. Vernon.
The lecture is presented by The University of St. Thomas Center for Irish Studies Cultural Outreach Forum, the Houston Young Professionals Supporting Irish Studies and The Irish Society.
This far-ranging talk looks at the Irish-American community in the decade-and-a-half before the election of John F. Kennedy. Taking issue with those who say the Irish in America jettisoned their cultural distinctiveness in the (supposedly) conformist years of the 1950s, Rogers argues that the Irish American community re-invented itself in new, creative ways, often deliberately staying outside the mainstream. Novels (The Last Hurrah), plays (Finian's Rainbow), movies (The Quiet Man), sitcoms (The Honeymooners) and music (the Clancy Brothers) all came together to create an Irish-American efflorescence.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Parking is available for $2 in Moran Center, Graustark St. and West Alabama St. For more information, contact Lori Gallagher at 713-525-3592.
The University of St. Thomas Center for Irish Studies Cultural Outreach Program is funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.
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