English 590: 20th-century
Irish Literature
course website: http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/~kconrad/590home.html
TR 11-12:20 * 220 Fraser
Hall
Prof. Kathryn Conrad
On this page:
[Professor Contact Info. and Office
Hours] [Description] [Texts]
[Requirements] [Online
Resources] [Syllabus]
(movie still, Some Mother's Son)
Professor Contact Information and Office Hours:
Professor Katie Conrad
e-mail: kconrad@eagle.cc.ukans.edu
homepage: http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/~kconrad
office address: 2035 Wescoe Hall
office hours: M 1:30-4:30 and by appointment
office phone (leave a message): 864-3287
real mail address:
3116 Wescoe
Hall
Department
of English
University
of Kansas
Lawrence,
KS 66045-2115
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(photo of Yeats)
Description:
Irish theater critic Stephen Gwynn said of W. B. Yeats's
play Cathleen ni Houlihan, "I went home asking myself if such plays
should be produced unless one was prepared for people to go out to shoot
and be shot." His comment proved prophetic: many of the Irish men and women
who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising spoke of Yeats's play as their inspiration.
As this anecdote suggests, writing and politics have been--and still are--closely
and explicitly intertwined in Ireland. In this course, we will look not
only at the literary and political responses to Ireland's history of British
colonial rule, but also the challenges to the politics of the Irish State
articulated by contemporary writers. We will explore a variety of genres,
including essays, poetry, film, and pop music; and we will examine works
by a range of authors and artists, including W. B. Yeats, James Joyce,
Patrick Pearse, Sean O'Casey, J. M. Synge, Nuala ni Dhomhnaill, Seamus
Heaney, and Sinead O'Connor. No prior knowledge of Irish history is expected;
short historical essays will be included in the readings.
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(Joyce, from The
Brazen Head site)
Required Texts:
-
Reserve readings (available at Wilson reserve desk for 2
hours, no overnight)
-
Modern Irish Drama (*MID*)
-
Territories of the Voice (*TOV*)
-
Joyce, Dubliners
-
Yeats, Collected Poems
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NiDhomhnaill, The Astrakhan Cloak
-
Muldoon, Selected Poems
-
Pillars of the House
Recommended Text:
-
Moody and Martin, The Course of Irish History--for
historical context.
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(West
Belfast mural)
Requirements:
-
Participation (20%):
All students will be expected to attend class and participate
in classroom discussion. Five unexcused absences will result in the
failure of this course. Part of the participation grade may be
based on attendance of at least one Irish-related event (probably a poetry
reading).
-
Papers (60% for undergraduates, 80% for graduate students):
UNDERGRADUATES will be expected to write two 5-6 page
papers or one 10-12 page paper. See syllabus for due dates.
GRADUATE STUDENTS will write one 15-20 page paper on
a subject of their choice.
You are encouraged to come up with your own paper topics,
though some topics will be provided. You are also strongly encouraged
to discuss topics and drafts (in advance of the due date) with me.
-
Final examination (20%, undergraduates only):
Undergraduates will complete a take-home final examination
due no later than the scheduled final examination date and time
for the class.
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(West
Belfast mural)
Online Resources:
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(Photo
from N. Ireland)
Syllabus:
This reading schedule is tentative and is VERY likely
to change. Changes will be announced in class and major changes will
be posted to this website.
-
Thurs 8/20: Introduction. Students should begin
to read Moody and Martin for background.
-
Tues 8/25: Cultural Revolution. Manifesto
for Irish Literary Theatre (MID, 378-9); Yeats, Cathleen ni Houlihan
(MID); "Red Hanrahan's Song About Ireland" (Yeats
poetry).
-
Thurs 8/27: Lady Gregory, The Rising of the Moon
(MID); John Keegan Casey, "The Rising of the Moon." (handout).
-
Tues 9/1: Synge, The Playboy of the Western World
(MID). Bring in your guess at why there were riots at the
first performances of Playboy.
-
Wed 9/2, 7 pm (or as announced in class): Screening
of The Playboys.
-
Thurs 9/3: Rose poems and discussion of movie. Yeats:
"To the Rose Upon the Rood of Time," "To Ireland in the Coming Times."
Owen Roe MacWard: Three versions of Dark Rosaleen"; Joseph Mary Plunkett:
"I See Blood Upon the Rose" (handout).
-
Tues 9/8: ( movie continued)
-
Thurs 9/10: Political Revolution. (Poetry
continued). The 1916 Easter Rising. Patrick Pearse: poems,
speech, The Singer. (reserve).
-
Tues 9/15: Pearse and Rising reserve materials cont.
Yeats, "Easter, 1916," "Sixteen Dead Men," "The Rose Tree," "The Leaders
of the Crowd."
-
Thurs 9/17: O'Casey, Juno and the Paycock (MID)
and Plough and the Stars (handout).
-
Tues 9/22: O'Casey plays cont. Yeats,
"Meditations in a Time of Civil War," "The Coat," "Man and the Echo," "The
Circus Animals Desertion," "In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth
and Con Markievicz," "A Stick of Incense," "Crazy Jane Talks With the Bishop"
(not discussed)
-
Thurs 9/24: O'Casey, Juno continued.
-
Tues 9/29: Revisions of Ireland.
Joyce, Dubliners cont. Focus in particular on "The Sisters."
-
Thurs 10/1: FIELD TRIP to Spencer Research Library.
Meet in classroom first.
-
Tues 10/6: Joyce, continued. "An Encounter,"
"Araby," "Two Gallants."
-
Thurs 10/8: "The Boarding House," "A Little Cloud."
-
Tues 10/13: Undergraduates: 1st paper due (note
date change). "Counterparts," "A Mother."
-
Thurs 10/15: "Ivy Day in the Commitee Room," "The
Dead."
-
Tues 10/20: Ulysses, Chs. 1 and 3.
-
Thurs 10/22: Sinead O'Connor, "A Short, Sharp Shock."
(handout) Sinead O'Connor, "I am stretched on your grave," "Three
babies," "Black boys on mopeds," "Famine" (handout).
-
Tues 10/27: CLASS CANCELLED for family emergency.
-
Thurs 10/30: reading day--no class.
-
Tues 11/3: TOV: "In the Middle
of the Fields," "Housekeeper's Cut,""The Day of the Christening,."
-
Thurs 11/5: "Midwife to the Fairies."
Poem: Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, "An Bhatrail/The Battering."
-
Tues 11/10: TOV: "The Wall-reader," "Naming
the Names."
-
Thurs 11/12:. Poetry: Siobhan
Campbell, Linda Anderson, Kathleen O'Driscoll (POH).
-
Tues 11/17: Screening, Hush-a-Bye Baby.
-
Thurs 11/19: Discussion of movie. Stories:
"Shepherd's Bush," "The Dove of Peace." (TOV). Poetry: Eithne Strong,
Paula Meehan (POH).
-
Tues 11/24:Brien Friel, Translations (MID).
-
Thurs 11/26: Thanksgiving.
-
Tues 12/1: Poetry: Muldoon: Hedgehog,
Identities; The Weepies, Cuba, The Boundary Commission, Anseo, Why Brownlee
Left, Truce; The Sightseers, Quoof, The Frog, Aisling; The Coney, Meeting
the British, Louis.
Ni Dhomhnaill: An Traein Dubh/The Black Train,
Caitlin/Cathleen, An Sceach Cheal/The Whitethorn Bush, and poems from The
Voyage section: 1. Cathair De Chi/The City of God, 2.
An Turas Farraige d'Oiche/Night-Crossing, 3. An Bhreasail/Hy-Breasil, 5.
An tOilean/The Island, 7. Poibliocht/Publicity.
-
Wed 12/2: The Crying Game screening.
-
Thurs 12/3: Discussion, The Crying Game and
"Guests of the Nation."
-
Tues 12/8: last day: summary and review.
Final papers due; take-home examinations (for undergraduates) handed
out.
-
Take-home final examination due on Dec. 17, 12 noon.
You may turn in your exam to my office (2035 Wescoe) or to the English
Department office (the staff will put the exam in my mailbox).
PLEASE let me know, preferably via e-mail, what you'd like me
to do with your final paper. If you don't plan ever to pick the paper
up, please tell me that, too--it'll save me time when I'm grading it.
Thanks! kconrad@ukans.edu
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