Arts and Literature
- June 16 - The first public celebration of "Bloomsday" takes place in Dublin. Writers Flann O'Brien, Patrick Kavanagh and Anthony Cronin travel in a horse drawn coach stopping at numerous pubs to retrace the steps of the characters from James Joyce's novel Ulysses.
- November 19 - Brendan Behan's first play, The Quare Fellow, premières at the Pike Theatre, Dublin, to great reviews.
- First Cork International Choral and Folk Dance Festival.
- English-born painter Derek Hill settles at St Columb's Rectory, near Churchill, County Donegal.
- Publication of Christy Brown's autobiography My Left Foot.
- Publication of Iris Murdoch's first novel, Under the Net.
Read more about this topic: 1954 In Ireland
Famous quotes containing the words arts and, arts and/or literature:
“No performance is worth loss of geniality. ‘Tis a cruel price we pay for certain fancy goods called fine arts and philosophy.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I should say that the most prominent scientific men of our country, and perhaps of this age, are either serving the arts and not pure science, or are performing faithful but quite subordinate labors in particular departments. They make no steady and systematic approaches to the central fact.... There is wanting constant and accurate observation with enough of theory to direct and discipline it. But, above all, there is wanting genius.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)