With Professor Mary McCay.

Hosted by Claire Keegan.

November 30th and December 1st, 2024

Clayton/ Whites Hotel, Wexford Town, 9am to 5pm, both days

Tuition: €450

This course will examine eight short stories in the context of the political, cultural, and ethical environment of different eras and a variety of environments in the United States. Mary McCay has paired the short stories to present the different ways that men and women writers react to their worlds and respond to the major concerns of their society.

She will examine America during the era that included the Civil War, the era that introduced a psychological and societal examination of Americans, the time that focused on the contrast between urban and rural America, and, finally, the period that introduced the emergence of a more multicultural and multi-ethnic society.

Mary McCay has taught at universities in both the United States and Europe. She began her career at Newton College of the Sacred Heart in Massachusetts. In 1985 she was awarded a Fulbright to teach in the American Studies Department at Keele. Her last and longest teaching post was at Loyola University, New Orleans, where she taught and was advisor to Claire Keegan and inspired her to write. After retiring from Loyola, Mary spent several years in Europe, teaching students in several cultural centers including Paris, Berlin Dublin, London, and Barcelona.

This course will be hosted by Claire Keegan who will attend and participate. Mary McCay’s teachings are what first inspired Claire Keegan to write – and she and Mary continue to work together after all these years. Claire happily credits Mary McCay for turning her into the writer and reader she is today.

Reading list:

Harriet Beecher Stowe: “The Ghost in the Mill”

Herman Melville: “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids”

Henry James: “The Middle Years”

Edith Wharton: “A Journal”

Philip Roth: “Defender of the Faith”

Annie Proulx: “The Mud Below”

Louise Erdrich: “Fleur”

Ha Jin: “Children as Enemies”

All stories are available in The Oxford Book of American Short Stories, edited by Joyce Carol Oates.

To book a place, please contact clairekeeganfictionclinic@gmail.com