Course website:  http://people.ku.edu/~kconrad/590f04.html
Blackboard component:  http://courseware.ku.edu/?bbatt=Y

Professor Kathryn Conrad
Office hours:  2035 Wescoe, Wednesdays 1-3 pm and other days by appointment
Office phone: 864-2572
 E-mail (best way to reach me): kconrad at ku.edu

Skip directly to [Resources] [Plagiarism Statement] [Reading and Assignment Schedule]

Note syllabus for final days below.  The Thursday night screening of 12 Days in July has been cancelled due to departmental conflicts.
11/15: Note new movie screening times below.
11/11: Diane Negra's article has been added to Blackboard, under Course Documents. Check updated syllabus below.
9/26: I have added helpful external links below, under Resources. I have also provided the link for the 9/28 Yeats poem.
9/22: To search in the Library Catalog for materials at the Spencer (you can also search in their card catalog, but this is a good way to start): On the online library catalog search screen, hit the "Set Other Search Limits" button at the bottom right side of the blue search box.  That will bring you to menu that will allow you to choose to limit your search to the Spencer Research Library (under Location).
 

Requirements:

Participation (30%):
Attendance will be taken in this course, and regular attendance is particularly important given that the class only meets once a week. More than 3 unexcused absences, counting from the first day of your enrollment in this course, will result in failure of this course. Work in other classes, away games, hangovers, vacations, and sniffles do not count as excused absences. If you are in doubt, ask me. Excused absences require either notification of me on or before class date (by e-mail, preferably, or by a message on my office voicemail, 864-2572), or official documentation shortly after the absence. The rest of your participation grade includes in-class participation, short writing assignments, online forum participation, and occasional small group work.  Students are required to have a registered e-mail account and to access the course website for updated information, assignments, and discussion boards.  Discussion boards are available under "Communication."

Papers (60%):
You will be expected to write either 2 papers of 10 pp each OR 1 paper of 20 pp.  Graduate students are encouraged to take the latter option with a journal publication in mind or the former with two conference papers in mind.  For both undergraduates and graduate students, at least one of the papers must be anchored in the Spencer Research Library's collection.  Undergraduate paper topics will be available online under "Assignments." See the schedule for due dates.

Final examination (10%):
There will a final exam for the course.  I reserve the right to give reading quizzes (generally unannounced, and worth 5 points each).

• Students with Disabilities: The staff of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), 135 Strong (Lawrence), 785-864-2620 (v/tty), coordinates accommodations and services for KU courses. If you have a disability for which you may request accommodation in KU classes and have not contacted them, please do as soon as possible. Please also see me privately in regard to this course (Adopted from SSD statement).
• Writing Center:  Most colleges and universities have a writing center, a place for students to talk about their writing with trained peer consultants. At KU, we call our writing centers Writer's Roosts.  When you visit, bring your work in progress and an idea of what you would like to work on-organization, support, documentation, editing, etc.  The Roosts are open in several different locations across campus; please check the website at http://www.writing.ku.edu/ for current locations and hours. The Roosts welcome both drop-ins and appointments, and there is no charge for their services. For more information, please call 864-2399 or send an e-mail to writing@ku.edu (Adopted from Writing Center Statement).
• External links:  The Blackboard website contains a list of relevant external links. Here are some of the most useful:
• CELT:  Corpus of Electronic Texts at U College Cork
• Yeats's poetry from University of Maryland
• Facsimile of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic
• Irish Constition linked through Irish gov't website
• Weather cancellations:  Call 864-SNOW to discover whether classes have been cancelled by the University due to inclement weather.

Plagiarism is not a game, nor is it simply a "shortcut" when time presses.  It is a very serious form of academic misconduct and will be treated as such in this class. If after reading the statement above, you are still unclear about what constitutes plagiarism, ask me before turning in an assignment. A plagiarized assignment will result in failure of the assignment (no credit given) and is very likely to result in failure of the course.  Formal records are currently kept by the department and the University.

Reading and Assignment Schedule
This schedule is subject--and likely--to change; check this site for current syllabus, where changes will eventually be reflected.  The best way to know what we're doing is to be in class and write down all changes. All assignments are required unless specified as "recommended." Bracketed items will be presented in class and require no preparation. Italicized items are optional &/or presented for your information.  Online items, whenever possible, should be printed out and brought to class.
IW:  Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century, ed. Pierce.
Go directly to... [September] [October] [November] [December]

August 24
INTRODUCTION:  Cultural revolution.
Background:  [British stereotypes of the Irish]; manifesto for the Irish literary theatre (handout).
Students should begin reading Moody and Martin's The Course of Irish History for background, particularly Ch. 14 ("The Age of the Penal Laws") through the end, as soon as it is available at the bookstore.

August 31
The Irish Renaissance
More background to the Irish literary renaissance:
D.P. Moran, "The Battle of Two Civilizations" (essay, IW, 32).
Yeats, "The Literary Movement in Ireland" (essay, IW, 38)
George Russell (AE), "Nationality or Cosmopolitanism"?" (essay, IW, 44).
Anon., "Lecture by Mr. W.B. Yeats" (essay, IW, 49).
John Eglinton, "The De-Davisization of Irish Literature" (essay, IW, 70).
Yeats, Cathleen ni Houlihan (play, IW, 98); "Red Hanrahan's Song About Ireland" (poem, online: http://www.poetry-archive.com/y/red_hanrahans_song_about_ireland.html)
Daniel Corkery, "The Aisling" (essay, IW, 289).

[September 7 --online ONLY!--class will not meet.]
Riots and representation(s)
Synge, The Playboy of the Western World (play, IW, 171).
J. M. Hone, "Yeats, Synge, and The Playboy" (essay, IW, 213).
Post your guess at why their were riots at the first performances of Playboy.
Gregory, Spreading the News (play, IW, 118).

September 13
Riots and representation(s)
Finish discussion of Playboy.
Gregory, Spreading the News (play, IW, 118).
Yeats, Rose poems:  "To Ireland in the Coming Times" (poem, online: http://www.poetry-archive.com/y/to_ireland_in_the_coming_times.html).
Joseph Mary Plunkett:  "I See His Blood Upon the Rose" (poem,  online: http://www.bartleby.com/236/342.html).--We may not get to talk about these at length, but they'll give you an idea of the importance of the image of the rose in Irish literature.  Feel free to talk about these online.
George Bernard Shaw: John Bull's Other Island
[Recommended:  Rent The Playboys, starring Albert Finney, Robin Wright [Penn], and Aidan Quinn. A very smart take on The Playboy and on postwar Ireland.]

September 21
Political revolutions.
Patrick Pearse:   (if you want to examine all of the texts together: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/pearse.html )
    O'Donovan Rossa Graveside Panegyric (online, Blackboard)
     poems: "Why do ye torture me?," "Renunciation," "Christ's Coming,""Christmas 1915,"  "The Mother."  (poems, online, Blackboard)
    The Singer (play, online: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/E950004-001/text002.html)
[The 1916 Easter Rising (in-class lecture).]
G. B. Shaw, "The Easter Week Executions" (essay, IW, 239).
Yeats:  "Easter, 1916" (poem, IW, 2710);
    "Sixteen Dead Men"; "The Rose Tree"; "The Leaders of the Crowd" (poems, online, Blackboard)
George Russell (AE), "The New Nation" (essay and poem, IW, 246).

September 28
Political revolutions pt 2 (AKA Reimagining Mother Ireland, pt 1)
[Screening of Mother Ireland.  Discussion.]
Yeats: "In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Constance Markievicz" (poem, online at http://www.lib.umd.edu/ETC/ReadingRoom/Poetry/Yeats/eva-gore-booth)
Constance Markievicz, "Prison Letters" (letters, IW, 282)
Eva Gore-Booth, "The Little Waves of Breffny" (poem, IW 117); "Women's Rights" (poem, IW, 171)
"No Image Problem for Republican Women," from An Phobhlacht/Republican News (essay, online:  See Blackboard, Course Documents ).

October 5
Visions and Revisions: Joyce's Dubliners
Joyce: "The Sisters," "An Encounter," "Araby."
Different views of Joyce:  Stanislaus (his brother), & Brian O'Nolan (Flann O'Brien), IW 609-618

October 12
Visions and Revisions
Joyce: "Two Gallants," "Eveline," "The Boarding House."

October 19
Visions and Revisions
Joyce:  "A Mother," "A Little Cloud," "Counterparts."
First paper due.

October 26
Visions and Revisions:
Joyce, "Ivy Day in the Committee Room," "The Dead"
[Recommended:  Yeats: "The Great Day," "Parnell," "The Second Coming" and "The Man and the Echo", http://www.lib.umd.edu/ETC/ReadingRoom/Poetry/Yeats/]

November 2  (Note online discussion about "The Dead" leftover from Oct 26).
Irish identities: gender and Irishness (AKA Reimagining Mother Ireland, pt. 2)
Frank O'Connor, "Guests of the Nation" (short story, IW).
[Screening in class: The Crying Game]

November 9
Irish identities: gender and Irishness (AKA Reimagining Mother Ireland, pt. 2)
Ailbhe Smyth, "Declining Identities (lit. and fig.)" (essay, IW, 1118).
Nuala ni Dhomnaill, "Caitlin," (poem, IW, 1174).
Eavan Boland, "Mise Eire" (poem, IW, 1064)
[Alice Maher images (in class).]
Sinead O'Connor:  "Famine" (song, online: http://www.inlyrics.com/lyrics/O/Oconnor%20Sinead/42069.html).  Sinead and her controversies: http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicArtistsO/oconnor_sinead.html.
Roddy Doyle, excerpt from The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (from novel, IW, 1225).

November 16
Online discussion, before class:  Doyle, Boland.
Irish identities: emigration; Ireland abroad; Ireland and America
Diane Negra, "Consuming Ireland" (article, under Course Documents on Blackboard).
Jim Phelan, "The Irish Empire" (essay, IW, 496)
Myles na gCopaleen, "Cruiskeen Lawn" (essay, IW, 503)
John Kelleher, "Irish-American Literature, and Why There Isn't Any" (essay, IW, 532)
Philip Chevron (Pogues):"Thousands Are Sailing" (song, IW, 1066).

November 18 (Th), 7 pm, 4020 Wescoe: screening of the movie Bloody Sunday (attendance optional).

November 23
Northern Ireland
[Northern Ireland lecture, in class]
Murals and photos, online at http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bibdbs/murals/murals.htm and http://people.ku.edu/~kconrad/murals.html
Mary Beckett, "A Belfast Woman" (short story, IW).

Background:
Chronology of events surrounding the Derry March (1968), online at http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/derry/chron.htm.
Chronology of events surrounding 'Bloody Sunday' (1972), online at http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/chron.htm.
Browse the CAIN website, http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/index.html, especially "Key Issues."  If the acronyms or terminology overwhelm you, the glossary at http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/glossary.htm and acronyms dictionary at http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/acronyms.htm will help.
Maps at http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/maps/map10.htm and http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/images/maps/map5.htm.
Some loyalist songs:  "The Ould Orange Flute" at http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/eire/intcount.htm and "Portadown" at http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/eire/portdown.htm.

November 30
Northern Ireland
[Screening of Hush-a-Bye Baby.  Discussion.]
Seamus Heaney, "Limbo" (poem, online--see Blackboard, Course Documents).
Linda Anderson, "Gang-Bang, Ulster Style" (poem, online----see Blackboard, Course Documents).
Paul Muldoon, "Ireland" (poem, online--see Blackboard, Course Documents).

Note:  bring ideas for final exam questions to class December 7.

December 7
Last day. Evaluations.  Discuss final.
Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon poems (poems, online--see Blackboard under Course Documents.)
Music and lyrics (Bring lyrics to class): "Sunday Bloody Sunday," U2 (online: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/u/u2/141428.html)
"Unfinished Revolution," Peter Cadle/Christy Moore (online: http://celtic-lyrics.com/lyrics/101).
Paul Hewson (aka Bono), "Bono:  The White Nigger" (essay, IW, 935).

Wed, December 9:  Final paper due by 3 pm in 2035 Wescoe.

December 14, 7 pm:  Final examination, 4019 Wescoe.