Many 18th century enthusiasts will gather in Abbeyshrule, Co Longford, this weekend for the 14th annual Goldsmith Summer School, which opens tomorrow.
Held in conjunction with the Eighteenth Century Ireland Society, the school will be addressed by five US, three English, one Spanish and more than 20 Irish speakers.
The keynote address will be given on Saturday by Declan Kiberd, who has chosen the subject: "Eighteenth century Ireland: two cultures or one?"
The summer school secretary, John O'Donnell of Ballymahon, said this week that in light of last weekend's referendums on the Belfast Agreement in the Republic and Northern Ireland, the lecture was timely.
The theme of the address summed up an important preoccupation of the school over many years and would have an urgent relevance, he said. "The 18th century was a time of great political, social and cultural change, which ended with the 1798 Rebellion and then the Act of Union," Mr O'Donnell said.
The plenary session tomorrow night has a title which Goldsmith himself would have agreed with - "Conviviality" - which will feature papers from Andrew Carpenter, of University College, Dublin, and Tanya Cassidy, of Trinity College, Dublin.
On Saturday morning, the subject for discussion in Ballymahon Vocational School will be "Eighteenth Century Irish Culture and Society". The speakers will include Marie Kennedy, Gilbert Library, Dublin; Tereas Watts, Potsdam College, US; and Una Nic Einri, Colaiste Mhuire gan Smal, Luimneach.
Later, "Oliver Goldsmith in his Time" will be the subject for discussion by Conrad Brunstrom, of Maynooth University; Chris Mounsey, of King Alfred's College, Winchester, England; and Maria Losada, friend of the University of Huelva, Spain.
Other subjects for discussion over the weekend include "Influences and Affinities : New Insights into Canonical Authors", "Jonathan Swift" and "Laying Down the Law in Eighteenth Century Ireland." The school will feature a recital by the Douglas Gunn Ensemble at 10 p.m. in the Rustic Inn, Abbeyshrule.
"We will be given a feast of music from the Goldsmith era and will recreate the ambience of the 18th century giving a recital of works by Irish composers of the period," Mr O'Donnell said.
He promised that the selection would be entertaining for mainstream listeners, featuring compositions by the blind harpist O'Carolan.