“Syng-ling out Joseph O’Connor"

The AUBG Literary Society had its first public event for this semester organized in collaboration with the Library Book Series on Tuesday, Oct. 7 on the ground floor of the Panitza Library. The theme of the event was “Syng-ling out Joseph O’Connor: An Introduction to Irish Contemporary Literature.”

Special speaker on the subject was Dr. Jonathan McCreedy, Senior Assistant in Linguistics at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. He graduated from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, where he received his doctorate on the topic of James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. The heart of the discussion was the perception of the Irish contemporary literature in Bulgaria, focusing on the issues of translation and the genres that are most popular in the country. “Some authors are really difficult to translate simply because they use very strong dialect in their works, this makes it very hard for some books to reach Bulgaria,” McCreedy said. “Also, there are particular types of books that are preferred among Bulgarians, for example violent crime Irish fiction. They get a clear advantage when it comes to deciding which books will be translated.” Among the 40 Irish authors whose works have been translated in Bulgarian is Joseph O’Connor. “He is the very image of a sophisticated Irish Scholar, with glasses, curly hair and softness within his voice,” McCreedy said. He also talked about the author’s inspiration, influences, personal life and literary style, drawing attention on the most successful of O’Connor’s’ novels “Star of the Sea”. “Star of the Sea”, as McCreedy described it, is a remarkable tale set on an Irish famine ship and it reads like a Victorian novel. A murder is promised, but the murder does not take place until the end of the novel, departing from the usual formula for a murder mystery. The book is an international bestseller, having sold more than 800, 000 copies in a year. “It is brilliant; so violent; so beautifully written. It’s an instant classic,” McCreedy answered when asked about the reason for the novel’s popularity.   After his lecture, the audience got the chance to ask questions, which they took an advantage of and got into a discussion with the speaker about the overall popularity of  Irish contemporary literature in Bulgaria. “There is a strong community of people here who are reading this literature," McCreedy said. "It is well- known and well-respected.” McCreedy finished the talk by commenting on the general standing of Irish literature in the 21^st Century. “The reception of this literature is becoming quite impressive especially in the U.K. I think it is doing quite well,” the guest concluded. After the event, everyone had the chance to talk more privately to Jonathan McCreedy over wine and refreshments.