It was also the world to which Carleton gave literary form in his two volumes of short stories, ‘Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry,’ 1892 and 1833 and in a succession of novels which include ‘Fardorougha the Miser’; ‘The Black Prophet’; ‘The Emigrants of Aghadarra’; ‘The Tithe Proctor’ and ‘The Squanders of Castle Squander’.

    Each year since 1992 the William Carleton Summer School has aimed to present Carleton as a significant writer, worthy of serious critical attention, encouraging the study of his writings.

    The setting for the Summer School is Corick House at Clogher, a 17th century country house mentioned in Carleton’s writings.

    Each year the School has recruited a number of leading academics from Ireland and farther afield and presented a number of creative writers, reading from their own work. These have included a formidable list of Ireland’s internationally renowned poets and novelists and this year was no exception to the rule.

    One time professor of History at University College Galway, R. B McDowell, gave the School’s keynote address on Monday and readings from Carleton were preceded by an address by Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature and Dram at University College Dublin, Maurice Harmon.

    Poet, Noel Monaghan gave the second day’s address before author and historian Ruth Dudley Edwards read sections from almost all her nine satirical crime novels.

    Journalists Paul Cullen, Malachi O’Doherty and Poilin Ni Chairain discussed the nature and challenges of their work prior to a spoken address by Eddie McCartney and evening musical performance marking the centenary of the birth of song writer Jimmy Kennedy.

    Students enrolled on the course enjoyed a tour of the Clogher Valley yesterday (Wednesday) visiting many of the sites Carleton was inspired by or mentions in his writing and today (Thursday) focuses on the art of the short story. Following an address by Honorary Director, Owen Dudley Edwards, a number of writers including Clare Boylan, Jude Collins and Peter Hollywood will discuss the meaning of their work and read from some of their stories.

    The Summer School concludes tomorrow (Friday) with an address by Professor in Irish Folklore, Seamus O Cathain and a reading by poet, writer, lecturer and arts presenter Theo Drugan.

    The overall focus of the week, of course, was always William Carleton, to whom the week long study of literature is dedicated. Carleton is, in many ways, thought of as a literary phenomenon and is difficult to assign to any literary tradition. He was not totally outside the main stream of literature however, as evidenced by the mutual respect which existed between him and such revered figures as Samuel Ferguson and William Makepeace Thackeray. Nevertheless, Carleton remains primarily the interpreter of ‘a class unknown to literature’, recording them as one of their own. No one had written from inside the margins of peasant Ireland before and many literary academics feel Irish writers owe a lot to him for immortalising the 18th century Irish lower classes in writing.