Irish 280--Modern Irish Literature
Meets in Vaughan Literature Building 101, MWF 1 - 1:52 PM, and Rooke Chemistry 18, W 7 - 9:52 PM
John Rickard
Office Hours: MW 2:00-3:30 PM
Office Phone: 717-524-1424
E-mail address: rickard@bucknell.edu
Homepage: http://www.bucknell.edu/~rickard
Please try to 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:
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Irish Literature: A Reader. Ed. Maureen Murphy and James McKillop. Syracuse UP, 1987. (IL)
Modern Irish Drama. Ed. John P. Harrington. Norton Critical Edition, 1991. (IL)
William Butler Yeats. Selected Poems and Three Plays. Third Edition. Ed. M. L. Rosenthal. Collier, 1986. (WBY)
James Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Penguin.
Anne Devlin. Ourselves Alone. Cornell University Press
Roddy Doyle. Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha. Penguin
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 nature and effects of "propaganda," 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.
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.
Films will be shown on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM in VL 101.
Wednesday, January 22
- Introduction to course
Friday, January 24
- Backgrounds: History and Myth
READ: O'Brien, Concise History and/or any of the histories on Reserve and IL, 3-18 and IL, 148-53 (Lady Gregory), and Mary Dorcey (handout)
Monday, January 27
- Backgrounds: History and Myth--Eary Poetry
READ: O'Brien, Concise History and/or any of the histories on Reserve and IL, 22 ("Pangur Ban"), 24 ("Eve"), and 29-34 ("Madness of Sweeney")
Wednesday, January 29
- Early Modern Poetry and Jonathan Swift
READ: IL, 37-8 ("Kilcash"), 43-47 (Aogan O Rathaille), 49-67 (O'Connell and Merriman), and Swift, , "A Modest Proposal"(Handout)
FILM: The Secret of Roan Inish
Friday, January 31
- 19th Century Poetry--Mangan, Moore, Davis (Notebooks due)
READ: Skim folk songs (IL, 68-87), Read IL, 105-7 (Moore), 114-16 (Mangan), and 122-29 (Davis)
Monday, February 3
- The Irish Literary Revival--Lady Gregory
READ: Spreading the News, MID 40-54 and 377-398
Wednesday, February 5
- The Irish Literary Revival--Lady Gregory
READ: The Rising of the Moon, MID 54-63
FILM: The Field
Friday, February 7
- The Irish Literary Revival--John Synge
READ: Riders to the Sea, MID 63-73 and 447-451
Monday, February 10
- The Irish Literary Revival--John Synge
READ: Playboy of the Western World, MID 73-119
Wednesday, February 12
- The Irish Literary Revival--John Synge
READ: Playboy of the Western World, MID 73-119 and 451-459
FILM: Playboy of the Western World
Friday, February 14
- William Butler Yeats--The Celtic Twilight (Notebooks due)
READ: Skim WBY, Introduction, and read carefully 1-19, esp. "The Stolen Child," "Down by the Salley Gardens," "Fergus and the Druid," "Lake Isle of Innisfree," "When You are Old," "Who Goes with Fergus," and "To Ireland in the Coming Times"
Monday, February 17
- William Butler Yeats--The Celtic Twilight
READ: WBY, 20-52, esp. "The Hosting of the Sidhe," "The Song of Wandering Aengus," "The Folly of Being Comforted," "Adam's Curse," "No Second Troy," "The Fascination of What's Difficult," "The Mask," "September 1913," "Paudeen," "The Magi," "The Dolls," "A Coat," and "The Wild Swans at Coole"
Wednesday, February 19
- Yeats and Nationalism
READ: Cathleen ni Houlihan, MID 3-12 and MID 406-420
FILM: How Many Miles to Babylon?
Friday, February 21
- The Easter Rising
READ: IL, 223-41 and Yeats, "The People" and "Easter, 1916" (WBY 63-4 and 83-5)
**Due: Paper 1
Monday, February 24
- Yeats and War
READ: WBY --"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" (55-6), "On Being Asked for a War Poem (66), "On a Political Prisoner" (86), "The Second Coming," "Prayer for my Daughter," and "Meditation in Time of War" (89-93)
Wednesday, February 26
- Yeats and the Irish Free State
READ: WBY, 102-123--"Sailing to Byzantium," "The Tower," and "Meditations in Time of Civil War," "Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen," "Leda and the Swan," and "Among School Children"
FILM: The Informer
Friday, February 28
- Yeats in Purgatory (Notebooks due)
READ: MID, 33-39 and 406-14 and WBY --"Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop" (148-49), "Parnell's Funeral" and "Church and State" (172-74), and "The Great Day" and "Parnell" (190-91)
Monday, March 3
- Yeats and Old Age
READ: WBY--"What Then?" and "Beautiful Lofty Things" (186-87), "The Spur" (191), "Why Should Not Old Men be Mad" (196), "Under Ben Bulben" (199-202), "Man and the Echo," "The Circus Animals' Desertion" and "Politics" (210-14)
Wednesday, March 5
- James Joyce
READ: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Chapter 1
FILM: The Dead
Friday, March 7
- James Joyce
READ: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Chapters 2 and 3
Monday, March 10
- James Joyce
READ: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Chapter 4
Wednesday, March 12
- James Joyce
READ: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Chapter 5
FILM: My Left Foot
Friday, March 14
- James Joyce's Later Writings (Notebooks due)
Monday March 17 - F Mar 21 SPRING BREAK!
Monday, March 24
- Short Story Writers--George Moore and Pádraic O'Conaire
READ: Moore, IL, 191-197; O'Conaire, IL, 211-222
Wednesday, March 26
- Short Story Writers--Seamus O'Kelly and Frank O'Connor
O'Kelly, "The Weaver's Grave" and O'Connor, "Guests of the Nation" (Handouts)
FILM: The Playboys
Friday, March 28
- Sean O'Casey
READ: Juno and the Paycock, MID 204-255 and 509-512
Monday, March 31
- Sean O'Casey, Day II
**Due: Paper 2
Wednesday, April 2
- Irish Poetry--John Hewitt, Patrick Kavanagh
READ: Hewitt, IL 300-02, and Kavanagh, IL 308-13 and excerpts from "The Great Hunger" (handout)
FILM: Into the West
Friday, April 4
- Samuel Beckett
READ: MID, 311-18 and 532-50 (Notebooks due)
Monday, April 7
- Samuel Beckett, Day II and Introduce Seamus Heaney
Wednesday, Apr 9
- Contemporary Poets--Seamus Heaney
READ: IL, 380-87 and handouts
FILM: The Run of the Country(NOTE--Changed from original syllabus)
Friday, April 11
- Contemporary Poets--Seamus Heaney
READ: Selected handouts
Monday, April 14
- Contemporary Poets--Ciaran Carson and Paul Muldoon
READ: IL, 406-07, and selected handouts
Wednesday, April 16
- Recent Poetry--Eavan Boland
READ: Selected handouts
FILM: In the Name of the Father
Friday, April 18
- In-class film: Mother Ireland
Monday, April 21
- Recent Poetry--Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill and Medbh McGuckian
READ: IL, 403-05, 408-10, and selected handouts
Wednesday, April 23
- Brian Friel, Translations
READ: MID, 319-374 and 551-570
FILM: The Crying Game
Friday, April 25
- Brian Friel, Translations (Notebooks due)
Monday, April 28
- Ann Devlin, Ourselves Alone
Wednesday, April 30
- Anne Devlin, Ourselves Alone and begin Roddy Doyle
READ: Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
FILM: The Commitments
**Due: Paper 3
Friday, May 2
- Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
Monday, May 5
- Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
**Due: Reading Journal
Reading Notebook: You must keep a reading notebook in
which you record (in order of their importance to me):
- 1) your own reading notes and responses to each day's readings;
2) responses class discussions and to questions and/or writing suggestions I may give you at the end of class periods to prepare for discussion; and
3) a brief summary and response to any additional literature, critical articles or books you read--either at my request or your own inspiration.
I will check the notebooks periodically (dates are listed on your syllabus) in order to reassure and exhort you; they are due in to me on the last day of class for their final grades. PLEASE BRING YOUR READING NOTEBOOK TO CLASS WITH YOU EACH WEEK! Refer to the handout on "Keeping a Reading Notebook" for more information about this important assignment.
Papers: (1) two short papers (approximately 5 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) one short "reaction paper," presented orally to the class and handed in to me in writing, that explains your reaction as a reader to one work of literature on the syllabus (I will pass around a signup sheet early in the term); and (3) 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.
Evaluation:
- Paper 1 (Feb. 21) -- 15%
Paper 2 (March 31) -- 15%
Paper 3 (April 30) -- 25%
Reaction Paper -- 10%
Reading Notebook -- 20%
Class Participation (including quizzes) -- 15%
**There will be no final exams for this class**
