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

Back to top of page.





(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.

Back to top of page.
 





(Joyce, from The Brazen Head site)

Required Texts:

Recommended Text:  Back to top of page.





(West Belfast mural)

Requirements:

Back to top of page.




(West Belfast mural)

Online Resources:

Back to top of page.
 





(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.
 

Back to top of page.