Irish 226: Modern Irish Literature
Spring 2008
Professor John Rickard
Section 01 Meets in Vaughan Lit 103, MWF 11:00 - 11:52 am
Section 02 Meets in Vaughan Lit 103, MWF 10:00 - 10:52 am
Office Hours: MW 2:00 - 3:30, and by appointment
Office: Vaughan Lit 231
Office Phone: 570-577-1424E-mail address: rickard@bucknell.edu
Homepage: http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rickard
Please obtain the editions listed below, so that we can all work with the same texts and pagination. If you have a problem obtaining any of these texts, please let me know. Texts are referred to by parenthetical abbreviations in syllabus:
ISBN: 0393960633
Abbreviated as MID below
Abbreviated as WBY below
Martin McDonagh, The Lieutenant of Inishmore. (Methuen Modern Plays)
Eavan Boland. Outside History: Selected Poems, 1980-1990. W. W. Norton
COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course will attempt provide a general introduction to "Irish Studies" and to explore more specifically the complex relationships between political nationalism and culture in modern Ireland. We will focus on some central questions about the relationship between politics and language, the varieties of "revolution" in Irish culture, the question of what it means to be an "Irish" writer in the 20th century, the relation between the Irish present and the Irish past, and what kinds of "narrative" modern Ireland needs and wishes to construct about itself.
CLASS FORMAT: Although at times I will lecture in order to present background information, I do expect class participation in discussion and in other in-class activities. I will occasionally ask you to do in-class writing, to work in small groups, or to prepare for class by responding in writing to questions I assign. I expect you to keep up with the reading and to prepare for class.
SYLLABUS
This is a provisional syllabus; changes will be discussed and announced in class. We may decide we need to spend more time on some things and less on others. You are responsible for learning of and responding to syllabus changes during the semester.BACKGROUNDS
Wednesday, January 16
Introduction to course--Irish history and mythology
Friday, January 18
Backgrounds: History and Myth
READ: Selections from Irish history online or from history texts on Reserve in Library, including O'Brien, Concise History or O hEithir, Breandan, A Pocket History of Ireland or any other history of Ireland on Reserve for ENGL 226 in Bertrand Library
Monday, January 21
Backgrounds: History and Myth
READ: Selections from Lady Gregory's myths (Online): Read Yeats's Preface, "The Boy Deeds of Cuchulain," "The War for the Bull of Cuailgne," "The Only Son of Aoife," "The Death of Cuchulain," "Note by W. B. Yeats," "Notes by Lady Gregory," and any others you care to look at (Suggested: "Fate of the Sons of Usnach") NOTE: These selections are also available on Reserve in the Library, in Lady Gregory's Cuchulain of Muirthemne or in Thomas Kinsella's translation of the Táin bó Cúailnge)
Wednesday, January 23
Finish Irish History and read Early Irish Lyrics
READ: Selected handouts on Blackboard ("Irish Lyrics," in "Extra Readings" folder in "Course Materials" section)
FILM (Suggested): The Secret of Roan Inish
Friday, January 25
Quiz on introductory material
READ: Eibhlín Dhubh Ní Chonaill, "Lament for Art O'Leary" (Click here for the Irish language version)
THE "IRISH LITERARY REVIVAL"
Monday, January 28
The Irish Literary Revival--Lady Gregory
READ: Drama manifestos on MID 377-398, and The Rising of the Moon, MID 54-63
Wednesday, January 30
The Irish Literary Revival--John Synge
READ: Riders to the Sea, MID 63-73 and 447-451 and begin Playboy of the Western World, MID 73-119
Friday, February 1
READ: Playboy of the Western World, MID 73-119 and 451-459
Monday, February 4
The Irish Literary Revival--John Synge
READ: Playboy of the Western World, MID 73-119
Wednesday, February 6
William Butler Yeats--The Celtic Twilight
READ: Read carefully WBY 1-19, esp. "The Stolen Child" and "To Ireland in the Coming Times"
Friday, February 8
William Butler Yeats--The Celtic Twilight and the Middle Years
READ: WBY 20-52, esp. "The Song of Wandering Aengus," "Adam's Curse," "No Second Troy," "The Fascination of What's Difficult," "The Mask," "September 1913," "The Dolls," "A Coat," and "The Wild Swans at Coole"
Monday, February 11
Yeats and Nationalism -- finish discussing poems from previous class
READ: Cathleen ni Houlihan, MID 3-12 and MID 406-420
FILM (Suggested): Michael Collins
Wednesday, February 13
The Easter Rising and the War
READ: Selected handouts from 1916 poets and Yeats, WBY 52-85; especially "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death," and "Easter, 1916"
Friday, February 15
Rough Draft Workshop: Work in class on Paper 1
Discuss Eavan Boland visit
Monday, February 18
Yeats, Civil War, and the Irish Free State
READ: WBY 86-115; especially "The Second Coming," "Prayer for my Daughter," "Meditations in Time of Civil War," and "Sailing to Byzantium"
***Due: Paper 1
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 -- SPECIAL EVENT: Irish poet Eavan Boland on campus. Q&A at 4 p.m.in Willard Smith Library and poetry reading at 7 p.m. in Stadler Center -- I would like you to attend at least one of these two events; extra participation credit for attending both
Wednesday, February 20
Yeats and the Irish Free State
READ: WBY 115-157; especially "The Tower," "Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop" (148-49), and "Leda and the Swan"
FILM (Suggested): The Informer
Friday, February 22
Yeats and Old Age
READ: Purgatory, (MID, 33-39) and 423-430; also WBY 121-123 ("Among School Children") and WBY 199-214 (especially "The Circus Animals' Desertion" and "Politics")
Monday, February 25
James Joyce
READ: "The Sisters" and "Araby," from Dubliners
Wednesday, February 27
James Joyce
READ: "Eveline" and "The Boarding House," from Dubliners
Friday, February 29
James Joyce
READ: "Counterparts" and "Ivy Day in the Committee Room," from Dubliners
Monday, March 3
James Joyce
READ: "The Dead," from Dubliners
Wednesday, March 5
James Joyce
READ: "The Dead," from Dubliners
Friday, March 7
Finish discussing Joyce; excerpts from Ulysses and Finnegans Wake
Monday March 10 - F Mar 14 -- SPRING BREAK
THE FREE STATE
Monday, March 17
Sean O'Casey
READ: Juno and the Paycock, MID 204-255 and 509-512
Wednesday, March 19
Sean O'Casey
READ: Juno and the Paycock, MID 204-255 and 509-512
Friday, March 21Irish Poetry--Patrick Kavanagh
READ: Handout
Monday, March 24
Paper 2 Rough Draft Workshop
Wednesday, March 26
Samuel Beckett
READ: Krapp's Last Tape, MID 311-318 and 532-550
FILM (Suggested): Krapp's Last Tape
***Due: Paper 2
Friday, March 28
Samuel Beckett -- Finish Krapp's Last Tape, view in-class videos and discuss
NORTHERN IRELAND AND "THE TROUBLES"
Monday, March 31
Brian Friel, Translations
READ: MID, 319-374 and 551-570
Wednesday, April 2
Brian Friel, Translations
READ: MID, 319-374 and 551-570
Friday, April 4
Contemporary Northern Irish Poetry--Seamus Heaney (Blackboard)
Monday, April 7
Contemporary Northern Irish Poetry--Ciaran Carson (Blackboard)
Wednesday, April 9
Contemporary Northern Irish Prose
READ: Bernard MacLaverty, "Walking the Dog," Fiona Barr, "The Wall Reader," and Brenda Murphy, "A Social Call" (Blackboard)
Friday, April 11
In-Class Film: Mother Ireland
CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE OF THE REPUBLIC
Monday, April 14
Contemporary Irish Poetry
READ: Eavan Boland, Outside History, especially "The Black Lace Fan My Mother Gave Me"; "We Were Neutral in the War"; "The Achill Woman"; "We Are Human History. We Are Not Natural History"; "We Are Always Too Late"; "What We Lost"; and "Outside History"
Wednesday, April 16
Contemporary Irish Poetry
READ: Eavan Boland, Outside History, especially "The Oral Tradition"; "Mise Eire"; "Fever"; "Lace"; "Suburban Woman: A Detail"; "An Irish Childhood in England: 1951"; "The Emigrant Irish"; "Listen. This is the Noise of Myth"; "Daphne With Her Thighs in Bark"; and "The Woman Turns Herself into a Fish"
Friday, April 18
Contemporary Irish Poetry
Finish Eavan Boland and discuss Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Read: Boland (assorted class handouts) and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill: Selected Poems and "Why I Choose to Write in Irish: The Corpse that Sits Up and Talks Back" (on Blackboard)
Monday, April 21
Contemporary Irish Drama
READ: Martin McDonagh, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Wednesday, April 23
READ: Martin McDonagh, The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Friday, April 25
Paper 3 Rough Draft Workshop
Monday, April 28
View Martin McDonagh's Six Shooter in class
Conclusions and Evaluations
Paper 3 due via e-mail by midnight, April 30, 2008
Papers: (1) two short papers (approximately 5-7 pages), either exploring historical or cultural elements related to the literature we are reading or focusing on your own interpretation of a character, critical problem, crucial passage, or a comparison of various readings; (2) a final essay, approximately 10 pages in length, incorporating researched sources to support an argument about one or more of the works we've read.
Irish 226 is a W2 course, so we will spend extra time on the essays, discussing essay writing strategies, research techniques, citation and documentation, and other relevant topics. Your grades for essays will include participation in draft workshops and work on revising essays.
Evaluation:
Paper 1 (Feb. 18) -- 20%
Paper 2 (March 26) -- 25%
Paper 3 (April 30) -- 35%
Attendance, Class Participation, Rough Draft Workshops, In-class Writing, and Quizzes-- 20%
**There will be no final exam for this class**
Class participation is an important part of your grade for this course. Everyone must participate for a class to work well; excessive absences will lower your grade in this course. When you miss a class, you must contact me or another student in the class to find out what you missed and what assignments might be due. If you accrue more than six unexcused absences, you will receive a grade of F for the course.
