Minutes of the 6th Meeting of the 161^st Session

1st November 2007 ~ Literary Evening with Roddy Doyle

AND so it was that the sixth meeting of the year was held not here in the oh-so-familiar surroundings of the Kirwan Theatre, but in the cavernous Aula Maxima in the Quad. Business for the evening was the first Literary Evening of the year, with Roddy Doyle as our guest speaker. With no debate for the evening, the event was a nice change from the usual foray of half-drunken, half-students heckling with misquotes and dodgy jokes from the back.

Roddy Doyle, as wikipedia informs me, is the esteemed author of the Barrytown Trilogy of books, namely The Commitments, The Snapper, and The Van. All three books focus on the lives of young inner-city Dubliners during the Rare Auld Times of pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland.

Doyle was here to read from some of his newer works, and mentioned his short-stories that have been published recently, many of which concern the New Irish, immigration and the negative effects of massive prosperity in recent years. He read from one such short story, ‘Home to Harlem’, which focuses on a young Irish student looking for his roots in New York’s dodgy suburbs, while also trying to score American birds with his shameful over-use of the ‘sláintes’, and ‘grands’ in conversation.

After the reading, we were treated to a question-and-answer session with many people from outside the University community getting the opportunity to speak their brains and ask Doyle questions. These included questions regarding his experiences in UCD, of which he said of our arch-nemesis debating society, the L&H: ‘They’re are a pile of wankers perfecting their talents for future careers as barristers’ and how back in the old days we never heard words like ‘skanger’ or heard North Dublin accents on TV or radio. He also told us how he likes getting up early, drinking coffee, and writing books. Finally, he commented on how he considers ‘The Woman Who Walked Into Doors’ as his best book to date, and names Napolean Dynamite as his favourite film.

All in all, a good night was had by all, especially Emmet, who got to keep a left-over bottle of surprisingly nice Lambrusco.

These are the Minutes as Recorded.