“What do you love and why are you here?”

And other simple questions that make what we’ve been looking for appear right before us.

I was on the phone with my dad a few weeks ago, talking about school and friends and my time here in Ireland. He asked me how my thesis was going, and the anxiety built up in my chest as it usually did when I was asked this question. I had changed my idea about three or four times, and each time I was less interested in the topic. I told him that at this point, I had no idea what I was going to do, but my time to figure out a topic was slowly dwindling. He mentioned that he had a cousin who is a professor of Women’s Studies and History at a university in Maine. He suggested that I give her a call—maybe she would have some tips about how to develop a strong idea.

I agreed this could help, so I set up a Zoom call with her. The conversation turned out to be a lovely one. We talked for a bit about the PhD process, and her own journey from undergraduate to postgraduate studies. When I got around to explaining to her that I was pretty lost about what to do for my thesis, she, in response, simply asked me two questions, and somehow, it shed a light on everything:

“Well what did you most enjoy during undergrad? Why did you decide to go to Ireland for your degree?”

The answer was sitting right in front of me the whole time and I chose to ignore it. Most of my undergraduate English classes surrounded Irish literature, and the love I gained for it from those classes was a huge factor in my coming here. I suppose I felt a bit unqualified to be working on a thesis topic that surrounded issues and places that I’ve read quite a bit about, but had never actually experienced myself. However, I somehow felt validated through this conversation, and I knew that if I were to do my thesis and research on Irish literature, I would genuinely enjoy the process. I’d be interested in attempting to uncover and learn more about the questions that these make me think about.

I began to research and really pinpoint the authors and time period I wanted to focus on. Identity and performing identity in literature has always been a topic that interests me, so I decided to apply that topic to Contemporary Irish literature, specifically focusing on women writers. My thesis topic, as of now, will aim to explore and answer the following: In my thesis I would like to examine the way women writers create characters that “perform” a certain identity, primarily looking at “performances” within relationships that are familial, romantic, and/or platonic. I want to apply this concept to a series of texts (possibly 3 or 4 novels) that were written, or take place, during and after the Celtic Tiger. I’d like to examine the way this event shaped the “performative” roles we see present within contemporary literature, attempting to uncover what has stayed the same and what has shifted.

In the spirit of using blogging as an academic tool, I’m going to include a link to a blog that I found when I began my research into my topic. It seems like a really wonderful place for lovers of contemporary Irish literature to share their love, expand their ideas, and maybe even sharpen their own writing skills.

Contemporary Irish Literature Research Network

I am genuinely excited to see what I will gain throughout this process. More updates to come on my blog, and thanks for tuning in!

(Below I'll post some recent favorites of mine. I won't be using them in my paper necessarily, they are just some fun books that I read recently and thought would fit nicely into this post.)

Some Of My Reading Recommendations

Walk the Blue Fields--Claire Keegan

Antarctica--Claire Keegan

These are two short story collections by Claire Keegan. They've been out for a while, so you may have read them already, but if you haven't, that's even more of a reason to!

The Amusements--Aingeala Flannery

This novel was just released this year, and is Ireland's book of the month. It's written in such a lovely and refreshing way. I hope you'll give it a go!