Beauty in Thomas Aquinas and James Joyce

About the speaker:

Fran O’Rourke is emeritus professor of Philosophy, University College Dublin. He is primarily interested in the classical tradition of Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas. He is the author of Pseudo-Dionysius and the Metaphysics of Aquinas (1992/2005), described by Alasdair MacIntyre as “one of the two or three most important books on Aquinas published in the last fifty years”. His Aristotelian Interpretations, a collection of ten essays, was published in 2016. A volume of essays, Aquinas and the Platonist Tradition, will be published by The Catholic University of America Press in 2026. Since 2016 Fran has organised the annual Symposium Thomisticum (symposiumthomisticum.com). His most recent book, Joyce, Aristotle, and Aquinas, (University of Florida Press, 2023), was praised by leading expert Morris Beja for its “genuine brilliance”, and recommended by Martha Nussbaum. As well as philosophical aspects of James Joyce’s work Prof O’Rourke has researched Joyce’s extensive use of Irish traditional song. He has performed these songs in venues from Shanghai in China to Santiago in Chile. He has given recitals in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, the Conservatorio in Trieste, and the Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco. In 2012 he sponsored restoration of James Joyce’s guitar, which is preserved in the Joyce Museum in Sandycove, location for the opening scene of Ulysses. With John Feeley, Ireland’s leading classical guitarist, he recorded the CD “JoyceSong” (www.joycesong.info). Their CD of traditional songs in Irish, “Casadh na nAmhrán/Turning the Song” may be heard on Bandcamp and Spotify. Fran’s publications, videos and recordings, may be accessed at (https://franorourke.ie/). Fran O’Rourke’s illustrated talk “Beauty in Thomas Aquinas and James Joyce” offers an introduction to Aquinas’ approach to beauty, and Joyce’s interpretation as presented in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It will be of interest to students of St Thomas as well as readers of Joyce who wish to hear a clear explanation of a dominant motif in the author’s approach to art. Following the talk Fran is willing to give an informal recital of some of the songs from the Irish tradition that are indispensable for an appreciation of Joyce’s writings.