An Introduction to Irish Literature
An Introduction to Irish Literature
From Free
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Description
This course is aimed at anyone interested in the Irish literary tradition, and representations of Ireland in literature. Focusing on Irish literature in English, the course moves from the rousing letters of Anglo-Irish Jonathan Swift's fictional drapier, through major modernist figures such as James Joyce and W.B. Yeats.
Drilling in at various disparate points, we will think of the way in which literature in Ireland has been instrumentalized politically to deal with the island's relationship with its colonial neighbour, and after independence, with its own past. Students will be provide with an overview of Irish literature in English, and a sense of what the Irish literary tradition has had to grapple with.
The course aims to develop attendees' critical faculties, improve their ability to discuss literature, and foster discussion with their fellow students/attendees. People would be encouraged to attend all the discussions and to have read the books beforehand, but handouts will be provided and information if they wish to attend without doing so.
Attendees may submit an assignment at the end of the course. Although the course is not accredited, all assignments will be graded according to University standards.
We will begin with a Taster Session on February 4th, which is free though places must be registered.
Taster Session:
Samuel Beckett, Murphy. (1938). February 4th 2015
This is the first published novel of the major writer Samuel Beckett. Murphy, first name unknown, is an Irish émigré living in London, and he is being pursued by a band of eccentrics, seeking him to solve their love lives. It is fast, funny, and full of youthful anger and bitterness. We're going to look at this novel as the product of a very specific Irish expatriate experience; how does Beckett situate himself with regard to Ireland,? To Irish literature, and specifically the Irish Literary Revival? I f students can read the text in advance, it would be extremely helpful, but extracts and some background information will be provided to facilitate discussion.
Full Course Outline:
11th Feb: Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), The Drapier's Letters, and A Modest Proposal in The Major Works, ed. Angus Ross (Oxford: OUP, 2008), or check archive.org or other websites. Any edition will do, it is out of copyright and available freely online.
18th Feb: Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849), Castle Rackrent, any edition, out of copyright and available freely online.
25th Feb: W.B. Yeats (1865-1939), extracts to be provided.
4th Mar: James Joyce (1882-1941), Dubliners, any edition, it is out of copyright and available freely online.
11th Mar: Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973), extracts to be provided.
18th Mar: Flann O'Brien (1911-1964), The Third Policeman (London: Harper Perennial, 2007).
About your teacher:
Robert Kiely has recently completed a PhD on Samuel Beckett's prose, poetry, and criticism entitled The Cuttlefish's Discharge. His reviews have recently appeared in the Cambridge Literary Review, Hixeros, and the James Joyce Broadsheet. His first novella will be out soon, and he has read his poetry in Prague, Izmir, London and Edinburgh.
Organiser
Venue
London Irish Centre, 50-52 Camden Square, NW1 9XB London
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An Introduction to Irish Literature
From Free