Bernard Shaw's Ireland: An International Perspective

Call For Papers

Click the button (or scroll down) to see the conference call for papers and the call for articles in the special edition of SHAW: The Journal for Bernard Shaw Studies
Call for Papers and Article Submissions
Conference

Call For Papers

International Shaw Conference Dublin June 5-7 2024
Venue: MOLI, UCD Naughton Joyce Centre, 85 St Stephen’s Green, St Kevin’s Dublin
CALL FOR PAPERS
In the last fifteen years, Bernard Shaw’s Irish identity has been firmly re-established both in
the field of Shaw Studies and Irish Revivalist Studies. Peter Gahan’s Bernard Shaw and the
Irish Literary Tradition (2010), Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschel’s Shaw, Synge, Connolly and
the Socialist Provocation (2011), and Audrey McNamara’s Bernard Shaw: Reimagining
Women and Ireland 1892-1914 (2023) bookend more than a decade’s long campaign to
restore Shaw to his rightful place within the Irish Dramatic Canon. Anthony Roche’s chapter
“Shaw and the Revival: The Absent Presence” in his The Irish Dramatic Revival 1899-
1939 (2015), David Clare’s Bernard Shaw’s Irish Outlook (2016), Nelson O’Ceallaigh
Ritschel and Audrey McNamara’s edited collection Bernard Shaw and the Making of Modern
Ireland (2020), Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschel’s Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, and the Dead
James Connolly (2021), and numerous chapters and articles were written in response to and
as a result of the highly successful 2012 International Shaw Conference in Dublin, opened by
President Michael D. Higgins at the National Gallery, which celebrated the Hiberno-Shaw.
Marking the 100-year anniversary of the London premiere of Shaw’s Nobel Prize winning
drama, Saint Joan, which reflected Shaw’s response to the culmination of Irish Independence
and the establishment of the Irish Free State, the 2024 Conference in Dublin will celebrate
Shaw’s relationship to Ireland through his marked international perspective. We invite papers
on any aspect of Shaw’s international perspective, especially those which speak to his interest
in gender, feminism, socialism, nationalism and internationalism. Abstracts for papers
(maximum of twenty minutes per talk) should be sent
to shawconference2012@gmail.com for consideration, along with a brief letter of
introduction. Deadline to submit abstracts is 31 March 2024.
Journal

Call for Articles

SHAW 46.1 (June 2026): SHAW AND IRELAND
In an “interview” in The Evening Sun, 9 December 1911, Bernard Shaw remarked that Ireland “ . . . is producing serious men — not merely Irishmen, you understand, for an Irishman is only a parochial man after all, but men in the fullest international as well as the national sense — the wide human sense.” Bernard Shaw considered himself one of those same “international Irishmen,” though his native identity and strong connection to his homeland was often overshadowed by his international outlook. Moreover, Shaw’s opposition to violence and abhorrence of nationalism often put him at odds with those fighting for Irish Independence. While Shaw frequently used the world stage to comment on Ireland and the Irish, many of his peers and critics have misinterpreted Shaw’s global views and tongue-in-cheek satiric mode as an indication that he was anti-Ireland or at least, indifferent to his homeland and his birthright. Thankfully, Bernard Shaw’s Irish identity has been firmly re-established in the last fifteen years both in the field of Shaw Studies and Irish Revivalist Studies. Peter Gahan’s Bernard Shaw and the Irish Literary Tradition (2010) and Audrey McNamara’s Bernard Shaw: Reimagining Women and Ireland 1892–1914 (2023) bookend more than a decade’s long campaign to restore Shaw to his rightful place within the Irish Dramatic Canon. As is the case with Shaw, though, there is always more to say on the subject. This special issue will celebrate Shaw’s relationship to Ireland and his Irish identity through his marked international perspective. We welcome articles on any aspect of Shaw’s international perspective, especially those which speak to his interest in identity, gender, feminism, socialism, nationalism, and internationalism. Please submit essays by 1 March 2025. Inquiries and proposals should be directed to guest co-editors Audrey McNamara bernardshawindublin@gmail.com and Justine Zapin justine.zapin@gmail.com.

SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies is the official publication of the International Shaw Society, which seeks to “provide a means for those interested in the life, times, works, and career of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw and his circle to organize their activities and interests, exchange information and ideas, and promote an interest in Shaw worldwide.”