Students present at Undergraduate Conference in Literature

Three students presented papers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Undergraduate Conference in Literature this spring.

The students presented in the area of “Irish Writers, Irish Identities.” Morgan Emery, an English and Social Sciences major from Eldred, presented “Joyce’s Choices: Irish Nationalism vs. Feminism,” which deals with the practical problem of the meaning of national identity in relation to gender identity in pre-independence Ireland with particular attention to the short fiction of James Joyce.

Andrew Cauley, a writing major from Bradford, presented, “Let the Comedy Begin: An Existentialist Interpretation of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Endgame,’” which addresses Beckett’s existentialist challenge to post-war concerns about the meaninglessness of life.

Bethany Kapp, a December writing graduate, presented “Digging into Seamus Heaney,” which considers the power of the land in giving meaning to national identity in the poetry of the Northern Irish Nobel Laureate.

All three papers were expanded from seminar papers written for 20th Century Irish Literature taught by Dr. Don Ulin, associate professor of English.

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