St Mary’s Research Fellow to Speak at University in Singapore

Dr Keith Hopper, Research Fellow in the Centre for Irish Studies at St Mary’s University, Twickenham has been invited to give a lecture at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, on the 1^st of April. The lecture, which is entitled Playing the Fool: Post(-)modernism in Theory and Practice, will consider some of post-modernism’s more playful manifestations, with the focus on some key works of early post-modernist literature. Writers to be discussed include James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and Flann O’Brien. Dr Hopper said, “Post-modernism is one of those shifting, nebulous, and seductive systems of thought which almost defy definition – indeed, it seems to take a provocative delight in remaining elusive. This problem of definition arises because post-modernism is a vast, organic complex of cultural actions and critical activities; it is neither a closed, homogenous entity nor a consciously directed movement, but a big baggy monster encompassing a whole new sense of ethics and aesthetics.” “For various cultural and historical reasons, Singapore has become something of a hub for scholarly debates about post-modernism. It is always a pleasure to visit NTU, and to speak with their students and staff about new developments in culture and in cultural theory.” Dr Keith Hopper teaches Literature and Film Studies for Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education, and is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Irish Studies at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. He is the author of Flann O’Brien: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Post-modernist (revised edition 2009) and general editor of the twelve-volume Ireland into Film series (2001–2007). He is also the co-editor (with Neil Murphy) of Flann O’Brien: Centenary Essays (Dalkey Archive Press, 2011) and The Short Fiction of Flann O’Brien (Dalkey Archive Press, 2013).