"Ireland is a strange country. It's a very, very old country; yet, it's a new country, too."
- John McGahern

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES:
This course provides an introduction to modern and contemporary Irish literature. At the same time, it provides a case study in the intersections between literature, politics, and culture. We begin with William Butler Yeats, arguably the greatest poet writing in English in modern times, and James Joyce, who is widely considered the most important writer of the 20th century. We will seek to understand their work in relation to the complex ferment of the Irish Literary Revival, which was, from the beginning, closely involved with the national independence movement. After this introduction, the course shifts to consider post-independence literature and the extraordinary vitality of the contemporary Irish cultural scene. As a whole, the course foregrounds competing visions of Irish identity and of the role of literature in responding to, and at times promoting, cultural and/or political change.

Here are some of the questions we will explore: How do these Irish writers employ or interrogate conventional notions of home and country, of individual and national identity? How do they depict the violent and complex legacy of colonialism? How are distinctions between community 'insiders' and 'outsiders' maintained, subverted, or crossed in these works, and to what ends? What conceptions of Ireland, of what it means to be "Irish," and to be an "Irish" writer are at work in these texts?

Other topics include the uses (and abuses) of myth and history, the recurring dialectic between tradition and modernity ("the ever recurrent, never recoverable past"), the history behind the partitioning of the country and the aftermaths of partition, including the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland, reactions to the loss of rural Ireland to urbanization and modernization, the eclipse of the Church in an increasingly secular, multicultural, and global Ireland, changing gender roles and relations, changing conventions surrounding the expression and representation of sexuality and sexual orientations, and contemporary Irish concerns with the prospects for the nation's multicultural (postnational?) future. Many of these themes and developments have been vividly dramatized in recent Irish films, some of which have been singled out for your attention on the syllabus. We will watch some film clips in class, and the films will be on reserve, should you like to see them in their entirety. I also hope to arrange for a session of live, traditional Irish music, if our local musicians, Laura Pharis and Joe Malloy, can find the time.

TEXTS:
Selected poems by William Butler Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, and John Montague

Selected fiction or nonfiction prose by James Joyce, Eárnán O'Malley, Frank O'Connor, Elizabeth Bowen, William Trevor, Seamus Deane, Mary Beckett, John McGahern, Roddy Doyle, Joseph O'Connor, Emma Donoghue, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, and Declan Kiberd

John Goodby, ed. Irish Studies: The Essential Glossary (selected entries)

[Books (except for Goodby's Irish Studies), recommended films, and xeroxes of readings for the course are on reserve in the Library. Copies of various other historical, biographical, and critical materials will be distributed in class.]

REQUIREMENTS:
Brief (1-2 typed pp.), biweekly commentaries on the readings, to be e-mailed to me at least 1 hour before the class in which they are to be discussed and to be submitted in a portfolio at end of term; a short (4-5 pp.) close analysis essay; a special project involving research (usually, a 7-10 pp. research paper); contributions to two or three group-led class discussions; regular attendance and ongoing class participation. In keeping with College policy, you are expected to attend all of our class sessions.

This course may be used to fulfill an oral skills requirement. You are expected to contribute regularly to class discussions. Active participation includes introducing ideas, raising questions, and building upon or helping to clarify the responses of others. You will often be called upon to read your biweekly commentaries aloud and to read aloud from the poems and stories assigned for the day. If you find it difficult to speak up in class, please come and talk with me as soon as possible. (Don't put it off!) Groups of students also will be responsible for leading class discussion on occasion. We will periodically review guidelines for evaluating oral communication skills to make sure that the objectives for these activities are clear.

Majors fulfilling their senior exercise requirement with this course will give presentations based on their work in an appropriate class session, if possible. Otherwise, the presentations will be scheduled outside of class and other students in the class will be invited to attend. The senior exercise will substitute for the short paper and the special project (and therefore will count 50% of the grade for the course).

EVALUATION: 
Approximate breakdown of final grade: short paper = 15%; special project = 35%; portfolios = 20%; group-led class discussions = 15%; class participation = 15%. Since this is a 'gateway' course for the major, close reading, interpretive approaches, and research skills will be stressed. To be eligible for a passing grade in the course, you must submit all written work. Since this course also may be used to fulfill an oral skills requirement, oral participation constitutes a high proportion (30%) of the final grade.

Normally, deadlines will be extended and absences will be excused only in the case of an urgent personal problem, a family emergency, or a serious illness, verifiable, if necessary, by the Dean. Absences will limit what you can gain from the course and what you can contribute. Unexcused absences also will lower your final grade. Late work for which no extension has been granted will receive an "F".

Plagiarism, even when unintentional, is a serious offense. If under the Sweet Briar Honor System, you are convicted of plagiarism in work you do for this course, you will most likely fail the course. If you are not sure what plagiarism is, please ask me.