Remembrances: Rachel Bromwich

On 15 December 2010, our colleague, noted Celtic scholar Rachel Bromwich, passed away at her nursing home in Aberystwyth.  CSANA invites those who knew her to use this forum to share their remembrances of her life and career.  Please send them to this address.

From Elizabeth A. Gray:

Rachel Bromwich was a daunting person when I met her as a very junior Celticist—around her immense capacity and scope as a scholar I fell silent, although I’d very much have liked to know her better.  When ITS was in the process of publishing Cath Maige Tuired, the first (and second, and third) set of proofs were very problematic.  Eventually Rachel stepped in and took over finalizing the work herself, being geographically closer to the printer and vastly more experienced in these matters.  Along the way, when I sent her the results of my requests for a second proof, in something like desperation, it was in the days before electronic communication, and “snail mail” seemed very slow.   I worried that the material had been lost on the way to her, and followed up with a telegram.  She let me know quickly by airmail that telegrams were not appropriate—that for her generation, a telegram meant bad news, and I should simply have faith in the regular mails.  Her willingness to take on the task of cutting through that evergreen and flourishing thicket of printer’s errors meant a great deal.  Doughty is the word that comes to mind, and I cherish her kindness to a young scholar.

From Juliette Wood:

I can't remember exactly when I first met Rachel, probably as a student at Aberystwyth. Although one had the impression that she was personally somewhat shy, she was very encouraging about my own work and the role of folklore studies. I do remember some lovely chats at her home in Aber, once she retired, and some amusing anecdotes about getting the proofs ready for the re-edition of the Trioedd.

From John Bollard:

I first met Dr. Bromwich in 1968 when I was a graduate student on a visit to Cambridge.  A friend arranged for me to meet with her, and she invited me alone to afternoon tea.  Though I was awed simply by her presence, she quickly put me at ease as she helped me to think about my own future.  I met her rarely after that, but she was always very thoughtful and welcoming.  In just a few words she was able to suggest directions in which to explore or paths to avoid.  Two moments stand out in my memory as highly significant to me, though she may never have known.  At a talk I gave to the Cylch Trafod Rhyddiaith in Oxford some years ago, I suggested an extension of the implications of one of the Triads of the Island of Britain.  As I made my point I saw her head nod just once, slightly but approvingly.  She was present at another lecture I gave one summer in Aberystwyth.  Afterward as people were milling around, she came up to me, touched me on the shoulder, very quietly said, "Pwysig iawn," and slipped from the room.  To me these small gestures have served as major rewards which have sustained me and continue to remind me to take my own work and thinking seriously.  I suspect many of us who knew her either personally or through purely scholarly connections will have similar memories of one of the great Celtic scholars of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  And we will all be supported by the foundations she laid for us for many years to come.

From Patrick K. Ford:

I believe that I first met Rachel Bromwich at a meeting of the British branch of the International Arthurian Society in Aberystwyth sometime in the early ‘70s.  My first impression of her was that she was stern and difficult to approach.  Of course I was familiar with (and awed by) her monumental Trioedd Ynys Prydein, which had been published in 1961 (and now, in its third edition, still one of the most indispensable works of scholarship for anyone working in early Welsh or Arthurian Studies), and many of her subsequent papers.  Her 1974 annotated bibliography of medieval Celtic literature (U. Toronto Press) demonstrates well the breadth and depth of her learning at that time.  I came to know her quite well in later years when she was retired and living in Aberystwyth, and I visited her in her flat a number of times.  She was always very genial on those occasions—there was always tea and cookies, and plenty of conversation about scholars and scholarship.  Like everyone else who knew her, I was saddened to see her memory begin to weaken.  After she was moved to the home, I visited her several times, once in her small room there—space only for a bed and a handful of books.  But she was still strong enough to carry on a conversation.  The last time I saw her and spoke with her was when she came to hear a paper I was giving at the Canolfan.  She rarely came out of the home by then, but she asked her long-time friend Morfydd Owen to bring her to the Canolfan so she could hear Patrick Ford’s paper.  It is the finest compliment I have ever had as a scholar or friend.  Rachel Bromwich will be remembered as one of the finest scholars of our discipline and a true friend to many.

Oideas Gael -- Classes for Summer 2011

Oideas Gael, the Irish language and culture school located in Gleann Cholm Cille, Co. Donegal, has just announced its class schedule for summer 2011.  Weeklong courses on a variety of topics, including Irish for all levels of learners, begin as early as mid April and run through August.  Detailed information about all course offerings for summer 2011 can be found on the school's website.

Summer Schools in Irish Studies --- Limerick 2011

Mary Immaculate College in Limerick will once again play host to a series of Summer Schools in Irish Studies.  The first session will take place 6 June to 17 June 2011 and include the following courses -- Old Irish Language (beginners), Modern Irish Language (beginners), Celtic Liturgical Music, and Georgian Ireland / Protestant Ascendancy.  The second session will run from 20 June to 1 July 2011 and include Old Irish Language (intermediate), Irish Folklore, Celtic Spirituality and Pilgrimage, and Irish Genealogy and Genetics.  Tuition for each class is 350 euro plus 350 euro for on campus B&Bs.

A website for the summer school is currently in the works.  Until then, students can contact the organizers for more information.

Cambridge Colloquium -- Call for Papers

The Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge is hosting an interdisciplinary conference for M.A. and Ph.D. students under the title 'Colliding Words'.  The conference will be held on 26 February 2011 on their campus.  Paper proposals of 250 words should be sent to conference organizers by 13 December 2010.

Edmund Hogan’s Onomasticon Goedelicum at UCC

The Joint Twelfth Annual Irish Texts Society Seminar / Third International Conference on the Early Medieval Toponymy of Ireland and Scotland will be held on 6 November 2010 at University College Cork.  The subject of this year's event is Edmund Hogan’s Onomasticon Goedelicum (1910-2010).  Those who wish to attend the talks must register by 1 November 2010.

Call for papers extended -- Vernacular Architecture Conference

The call for papers for the conference entitled 'New Light on Vernacular Architecture: Studies in Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man' has been extended until 31 January 2011.  Paper proposals dealing with any aspect of 'vernacular architecture from the British Isles' should be sent to Dr. Catriona Mackie.  The conference itself will take place in Douglas on the Isle of Man on 22-25 June 2011.

ZCP 57 (2009/2010)

Volume 57 of Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie has been mailed to subscribers.  In addition to the regular book reviews, this issue includes 12 articles and notes in German and English:

• 'Glückwunschnote der Herausgeber an Karl Horst Schmidt zu seinem 80. Geburtstag' by the editors,
• 'The plant names in Marcellus' "De Medicamentis"' by Alderik H. Blom,
• 'Where have all the object pronouns gone? The growth of object agreement in earlier Celtic' by Joseph F. Eska,
• 'On "double-nasal" presents in Celtic and Indo-European and a new Irish sound law' by Benjamin W. Fortson IV,
• 'The provenance of the Book of Leinster' by Gearóid Mac Eoin,
• 'Bratonio Gratias: Bemerkungen zu festlandkeltischen Onomastik und Phraseologie', by Torsten Meissner,
• 'Das Hieronymuszeugnis und der Tod des Gallischen', by Torsten Meissner,
• 'Die irischen Weltannalen und Beda' by Jürgen Schmidt,
• 'Mit cen ,ohne' negierte Komplemente im Altirischen', by Karin Stüber,
• 'Altirisch arae ,Wagenlenker', aithesc , Antwort', keltische Präverbien auf *-i und die frühe Apokope von *-i', by Jürgen Uhlich,
• 'Luarth teulu: Ikonische Syntax und intendierte Mehrdeutigkeit in der altkymrischen Dichtung', by Stefan Zimmer, and
• 'Irish úaine, French oignon "onion"', by Stefan Zimmer.

Call for Papers -- Irish-Language Children's Literature Conference

The call for papers has just been announced for the First International Irish-Language Children's Literature conference, which will be held at St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, 8-9 April 2011.  Paper proposals of 250 words on any aspect of Irish-language children's literature should be sent to the conference organizer, Dr. Ríona Nic Congáil, by 20 December 2010.  Further details can be found on the conference blog.

SCE Graduate Prizes

The executive committee of Societas Celtologica Europaea has just announced the winners of this year's prizes for graduate theses.  Congratulations go to Peter Holzmann who won the Preis für die beste MA-Arbeit in Keltologie for his UCC thesis on 'Poetic rhetoric of praise in medieval Ireland: an edition of the panegyric on Áed oll' and to Finnbarr Ua Cearnaigh who won the Preis für die beste Dissertation in Keltologie for his UCC dissertation on '"Amhail fuaim chogair bhig": teangeolas Shéamais Uí Scoireadh'.  Nominations for the 2010 thesis prizes are due to Karin Stüber by 1 March 2011.

Irish-Language Book Club -- Clubleabhar.com

Clubleabhar.com is an 'online book club [that] aims to encourage people in Ireland and abroad to read Irish language books'.  Registration for groups and individuals is free and can be completed on the Clubleabhar website.  The book for the month of September is Alan Titley's novel Gluaiseacht, and for October, it's Biddy Jenkinson's An t-Athair Pádraig Ó Duinnín -- Bleachtaire.  For more information on the club, visit the Clubleabhar website.

2010 Fanning Medal Lecture

The Irish Studies faculty at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have named Michael Patrick Gillespie, Professor of English at Florida International University, the recipient of the 2010 Fanning Medal for Irish Studies. After the presentation, which will take place on October 14 at 7:30 pm in Guyon Auditorium, SIUC campus, Professor Gillespie will deliver the 2010 Fanning Medal Lecture.
The Fanning Medal itself is named in honor of Professor Emeritus Charles Fanning and recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of Irish Studies. Last year’s recipient was Irish-language poet Louis de Paor.

CMCS 59 (Summer 2010)

The most recent volume of the journal Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies (Number 59 Summer 2010) has been mailed to subscribers.  It includes five articles in addition to the usual book reviews:

• 'Mermaids, Leprechauns, and Fomorians: A Middle Irish Account of the Descendants of Cain' by Simon Rodway,
• 'Obscurities in Dúil Dromma Cetta: Insights into a Lost Exemplar and Form-Oriented Scribing' by Sharon Arbuthnot,
• 'Eschatological Justice in Scéla Laí Brátha' by Elizabeth Boyle,
• 'Ireland's Other Apostle: Cogitosus' St Brigit' by Dorothy Ann Bray, and
• 'Celtic Ecocriticism' by Barry J. Lewis.

Call for Papers -- CSANA 2011 at OSU

The call for papers for the 2011 meeting of the Celtic Studies Association of North America, which will be held 19-22 May on the campus of The Ohio State University, has just been announced.  Proposals for twenty-minute papers on any aspect of Celtic Studies should be emailed to Dr. Michael Meckler by 1 February 2011.

ZCP 57

Copies of volume 57 of Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, which has just been published, have been posted to members of Societas Celtologica Europaea whose dues are up to date.  Subscription concerns can be addressed to De Gruyter Rhenus Medien Logistik.

XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies -- Registration

Early registration is now open for the XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies, which will be held 1-5 August 2011 at Maynooth. Registration information can be found on the congress website.

Call for Papers -- Kalamazoo 2011

The American Society for Irish Medieval Studies will be hosting a panel under the title 'Navigations through Medieval Ireland: Physcial, Mythological, and Virtual Journeys' at the International Congress of Medieval Studies to be held at Kalamazoo, 12-15 May 2011. Paper proposals for this panel should be sent to John Soderberg.

Fifth Bangor Colloquium on Medieval Wales 2010

The provisional program for the Fifth Bangor Colloquium on Medieval Wales, which will be held 23-24 October 2010 at Bangor University, has just been posted. The inaugural J. E. Lloyd Lecture with reception to follow will be given by Thomas Charles-Edwards at 6:00 on the 22nd.

XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies -- Call for Papers

The organizers of the XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies, which will be held 1-5 August 2011 at Maynooth, have just released their official call for papers.  Proposals are to be sent electronically in the manner specified on the congress website and are due by 30 November 2010.  Early submissions are encouraged.

Writing Irish History -- A New Website

The Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute at University College Dublin has just unveiled their new website as well as an online version of the 2007 exhibition entitled 'Writing Irish History: The Four Masters and their World'. The institute hopes that both sites will be useful resources for 'second and third-level students as well as for the public at large'.

Job Opening -- NUI, Maynooth

The National University of Ireland, Maynooth, is seeking applications for an associate professor of Old Irish. Applications are due by 26 August 2010. Details can be found here.

Call for Papers -- Celts in the Americas Conference, 2011

The Celtic Studies Department at Saint Francis Xavier University and the Centre for Cape Breton Studies at Cape Breton University will host a conference on the Celts in the Americas to be held 29 June through 2 July, 2011 in Nova Scotia.

Paper proposals, together with the speaker's name, institutional affiliation, and prospective title, should be emailed to Professor Newton by 5 December 2010.

For more information on the conference, visit the Saint Francis Xavier University website.

Call for Papers -- CSANA Sessions, Kalamazoo, 2011

Professor Frederick Suppe is organizing two CSANA sessions at the next International Congress of Medieval Stuides, which will be held on May 12-15, 2011 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The themes for the sessions are "New Work by Young Celtic Studies Scholars" and "Empires, Emperors, and Rulership in Celtic Texts and Cultures."

Paper proposals, including the prospective title and the speaker's contact information, should be emailed to Professor Suppe by September 15, 2010. Priority will be given to earlier submissions, so prospective speakers are urged to get their proposals in sooner rather than later.

Journal of Literary Onomastics -- Submissions Information

The Journal of Literary Onomastics, a new scholarly periodical published under the auspices of the College at Brockport, State University of New York, welcomes article-length submissions on topics that deal with the ‘linguistic and philological aspects of proper names’. Detailed submissions information can be found on the journal’s website.

Call for Papers -- Vernacular Architecture Conference

The call for papers has just been announced for a conference entitled 'New Light on Vernacular Architecture: Studies in Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man'. The conference is being hosted by the University of Liverpool's Centre for Manx Studies and Manx National Heritage and will take place in Douglas, Isle of Man from 22 -25 June 2011. Paper proposals of 300 words are to be emailed to conference organizers by 30 September 2011.

Call for Papers -- Ireland and Modernity Conference

The final call for papers has just gone out for Ireland and Modernity: An Interdisciplinary Conference, which will be held at the Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University Belfast, from the 11th to the 13th of November, 2010.  Abstracts of less than 350 words should be emailed to the conference committee on or before August 16th, 2010.  Additional information can be found on the conference website.

Ars Lyrica Celtica

The Lyrica Society for Word-Music Relations has just announced the publication of the seventeenth volume of its journal. This volume, entitled Ars Lyrica Celtica, has a Celtic theme and includes articles by several CSANA members.  For information on how to obtain a copy, send an email to the society at this address.

International Congress of Celtic Studies, Maynooth 2011

The XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies will be held at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth from August 1-5, 2011. The official call for papers is forthcoming, and early registration begins in September. For additional information, please visit the Congress website.

Petition to Save Palaeography at King's College London

The Executive at King's College London is considering a proposal to eliminate the institution's Chair of Palaeography, which is unique in the UK. The move has not sat well with medievalists around the world, who have put together an online petition to save the position. Those interested in saving this important chair can read and sign the petition here.

Seventh Australian Conference of Celtic Studies

The preliminary program for the Seventh Australian Conference of Celtic Studies to be held at the University of Sidney from September 29 through October 2, 2010 has just been posted on the university's website. For more information on the conference, contact Professor Anders Ahlqvist.

Coimicí Gael

Coimicí Gael just announced that the first issue of their Irish-language comic Rírá has been shortlisted for the Eagle Awards, which are described in their press release as 'like the Oscars but for comics'. Also shortlisted for awards were Mike Lynch for best new writer and John Cullen for best new artist. Fans can vote for their favorites, including Rírá, on the Eagle Awards website.

Irish Immersion Week -- Butte, Montana

Montana Tech in Butte will once again play host to an Irish Language Immersion Week to be held on their campus from July 17-24, 2010.  Different levels of course work are available for the beginning, intermediate, and advanced student.  Tuition is $280 for non-credit courses and $425 for credit with accommodations running between $20 and $25 a night.  Registration forms, lessons plans, and additional information on the classes can be found on the Irish Montana website (http://www.irishmontana.com/immersionweek.htm).

CSANA Blog -- Getting Started

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