UL Literary Archive Project: A Study of Frank McCourt

Abstract

For my Final Year Project I am working as part of a group to create a collection of web-based resources on the work of local Limerick writers, both past and present. As part of this project, entitled ‘UL Literary Archive Project’, I am working alongside eight other FYP students in compiling valid and useful information on these writers, while also critically analysing their works. This collection will be made available to the general public, and will hopefully be of use to them, as well as to students of literature. The web page will highlight and emphasise popular, well-known writers and their works, as well as provide information on less-well-known, up and coming contemporary writers in the Limerick area and their works. It may be a means to introduce some of these contemporary writers to a wider public, and will also provide up-coming public readings dates for interested members of the public. I chose to study the works of the late Frank McCourt. My individual project highlights some of the predominant themes in McCourt’s memoirs Angela’s Ashes, 'Tis and Teacher Man particularly themes relating to identity and place. I will endeavour to analyse the infamous controversy surrounding Frank McCourt’s best known memoir Angela’s Ashes, which was criticised both at home and abroad for its depiction of the author’s hometown. My aim is to come to a conclusion as to whether his depiction of Limerick is honest, or if it is falsified by the author in this memoir.