The Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories has established its own publication platform. An occasional series, Working Papers on Memory, Narrative and Histories, in simultaneous booklet and online formats (ISSN print 2045–8290/online 2045–8304), will enable publication of symposium and conference papers and other work in the Centre’s areas of interest by University researchers (including graduate students) and visiting speakers, on the model of the influential ‘Working Papers in Cultural Studies’ published by the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in the 1970s/80s. Each number in the series is available in booklet form at CMNH events or by email from Sam Carroll, Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories, School of Humanities, 10-11 Pavilion Parade, University of Brighton, BN2 1RA, email memorynarrativehistories@brighton.ac.uk. It is also available in downloadable pdf format by clicking on the relevant links below on this page.

Issue no. 1: Memory, Narrative and Histories: Critical Debates, New Trajectories (Working Papers on Memory, Narrative and Histories, no.1), ed. Graham Dawson, Brighton: University of Brighton, 2012 (74 pp.). Comprises papers from the Centre’s launch symposium.

Issue no. 2: The Brighton ‘Grand Hotel’ Bombing: History, Memory and Political Theatre (Working Papers on Memory, Narrative and Histories, no.2), Eds Sacha Van Leeuen and Graham Dawson, Brighton: University of Brighton, 2017. Comprises papers and extracts a play developed from the symposium and rehearsed theatrical reading held at Grand Parade, University of Brighton, 15th–16th Oct 2014.

Working Papers on Memory, Narrative and Histories, no. 1, January 2012

Memory, Narrative and Histories: Critical Debates, New Trajectories

edited by Graham Dawson

The papers collected in this publication were originally delivered at the Centre’s Launch Symposium on Memory, Narrative and Histories held at the University of Brighton on 6th December 2008.

Invited to provide a personal overview of recent trends, current debates, and new trajectories within their field the five authors whose papers are collected here have taken various approaches to translating their spoken paper into publishable writing, all embracing the ethos of this new series.

Contents and Introduction: Graham Dawson

Chapter One: Hilda Kean, Thinking about people and Public History

Chapter Two: Andrew Flinn, Archives and their communities: Collecting histories, challenging heritage

Chapter Three: Dorothy Sheridan, Possession: Tensions in the creation, care and use  of archives, with reference to Mass Observation

Chapter Four: Margaretta Jolly, Oral history, life history, life writing: The logic of convergence

Chapter Five: Carrie Hamilton, Cultural memory and the emotions: Exploring the connections

Working Papers on Memory, Narrative and Histories, no. 2, November 2017

The Brighton ‘Grand Hotel’ Bombing: History, Memory and Political Theatre

edited by Sacha van Leeuwen and Graham Dawson

The Brighton ‘Grand Hotel’ bombing of 12 October 1984 was one of the most significant among nearly 500 incidents in the Provisional Irish Republican Army’s campaign of political violence in England over 25 years from 1973–97. This volume has developed out of a commemorative event to mark the 30th anniversary of the bomb in October 2014, comprising a symposium and a semi-staged reading of Julie Everton & Josie Melia’s play, The Bombing of the Grand Hotel, held at the University of Brighton.

The writing collected here represents a unique collaboration between academic scholars and theatre practitioners from Britain and Ireland to re-evaluate the significance of the Brighton bombing, through consideration of its historical context and effects, the ways it has been represented and remembered, and the possibilities afforded by theatre to engage audiences in issues of political violence and its aftermath. The volume is also offered as a contribution and spur to ongoing debate about how the legacies of the Northern Ireland conflict and its complex and painful kinds of violence might be recognised, understood, and confronted, in the light of the Irish peace process that has brought the PIRA’s armed struggle to a close.

Contents

Graham Dawson, ‘Introduction. The Brighton ‘Grand Hotel’ bombing: History, memory and political theatre.’

Part 1: The Northern Ireland Troubles in Britain: Histories, memories and legacies

Gary McGladdery, ‘Reflections on the historical significance, impact and consequences of the Provisional IRA’s attack on the British Government in Brighton, 1984.’

Natalie Reside, ‘A civil rights perspective.’

Lesley Lelourec, ‘Coming to terms with a tragedy: The community response to the Warrington bombing.’

Stephen Hopkins, ‘Remembering and forgetting the Northern Ireland Troubles in Great Britain.’

Part 2: The Bombing of the Grand Hotel and political theatre in Britain and Ireland

Julie Everton & Josie Melia, ‘The writing, production and reception of The Bombing of the Grand Hotel.’

Ellen Muriel, ‘Ethical issues in the theatrical representation of real historical people and events, with reference to The Bombing of the Grand Hotel.’

Neil Fleming, ‘Political theatre: A Hydrocracker Theatre Company perspective.’

Suzanne H. Foy, in collaboration with Paula McFetridge, ‘The role of theatre in helping deal with the past in the North of Ireland: Kabosh Theatre Company’s Those You Pass on the Street.’

Appendix 1: The questions given to speakers and delegates to guide discussion at the symposium.

Appendix 2: Two extracts from The Bombing of the Grand Hotel by Julie Everton and Josie Melia.