AN32001BA Introduction to Irish Studies Third year BA two-hour lecture; written exam Tuesday 14:00-15.40, Studio 111
Bertha Csilla csillabertha@gmail.com office: 105 office hours: Tues: 16.00 – 17.00 Wed: 11.00 – 12.00
A series of lectures offering the students an introduction to Irish culture, giving insights into various aspects, phenomena, and authors of modern and contemporary Irish history, arts, music, film, literature, with glances at antecedents. Each lecture is self-contained but also inter-connected to the other lectures. Schedule: Sept 9 Introduction: “The Making of the Celtic Tiger” “May the enemies of Ireland never meet a friend.” (Irish curse) Sept 16 Myth, History, and Literature “When God made time, He made plenty of it.” (Irish Proverb) Read W.B.Yeats, selected poems; On Baile’s Strand, Brian Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa OR Wonderful Tennessee (Excerpt from G.C.Kennedy, Ancient Ireland )* Sept 23 Introduction to Irish Archeology and Arts “The work praises the man.” (Irish proverb) (Read Brendan Purcell, “In Search of Newgrange”)* Sept 30 Introduction to Irish Music “It’s Hard to Sing with an Empty Glass” (Irish proverb) Read Lillis Ó Laoire, “Irish Music” Oct 7 Introduction to Irish Film In-class viewing My Left Foot, Dir. Jim Sheridan (1987)
Oct 14 Introduction to Irish Film “There is no luck except where there is discipline.” (Irish proverb) View The Crying Game, Dir. Neil Jordan (1992) OR: Michael Collins, Dir. Neil Jordan (1996). Read Luke Gibbons, “Projecting the nation: cinema and culture” Oct 21 --------- Consultation week -------------
Oct 28 The Irish Renaissance, the Irish Dramatic Movement and Decolonization “May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.” (Irish Toast) Read Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory, Cathleen ni Houlihan, W.B.Yeats, The Dreaming of the Bones, Re-(read) J. M. Synge, The Playboy of the Western World, Richard Kearney, “Myths of Motherland.”
Nov 4 Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry - From W.B.Yeats and Patrick Kavanagh to Seamus Heaney “A tune is more lasting than the song of the birds, a word is more lasting than the riches of the world.” (Irish proverb) Read selected poems and Kavanagh, The Great Hunger; S. Heaney, “Keeping Time: Irish Poetry and Contemporary Society” The Sense of Place, Dispossession and Repossession in Contemporary Irish Poetry - John Montague, Eavan Boland, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill “The day will come when the cow will have use of her tail.” (Irish proverb) Read selected poems P. Dolmányos, “Journeys of John Montague” (Excerpt from E. Boland, “Outside History.”)* No 18 The Function of Theatre and Drama in Identity-forming and Meaningmaking in Postcolonial Ireland – I. “Quiet people are well able to look after themselves.” (Irish proverb) (Re-)read Brian Friel, Translations; Tom Murphy, Bailegangaire OR The House, excerpt from Shaun Richards, “Brian Friel: Seizing the Moment of Flux” (excerpt from N. Grene, “Talking it Through”)* Nov 25 Contemporary Theatre and Drama II “It is the quiet pigs that eat the meal.” (Irish proverb) Read Frank McGuinness, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Marina Carr, The Mai (H. Lojek, “Watching Over … “)* Introduction to Contemporary Irish Fiction – I; Rural Ireland Past and Present “Time is a great storyteller.” (Irish proverb) Read John McGahern, Amongst Women OR Anne Haverty, One Day as a Tiger Anne Fogarty, “Uncanny Families…” Anne Fogarty, “Uncanny Families…” OR (depending on which novel you read): R.F.Garratt, “John McGahern…” Dec 2 Contemporary Fiction – II; the Northern Irish Troubles as Represented in Fiction “The world would not make a racehorse out of a donkey.” (Irish proverb) Read Seamus Deane, Reading in the Dark OR Jennifer Johnston, The Gingerbread Woman Harte, Liam. “History Lessons…” Dec 9 Dec 16 The Irish Nobel Prize Awardees “When the apple is ripe, it will fall.” (Irish proverb). (Re-)read S. Beckett, Waiting for Godot; S. Heaney, “Crediting Poetry.” Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. The New Republic 25 December 1995: 27-34. Nov 11
Requirements and grades Although this class will be primarily a series of lectures, it is highly recommended that participants read the assigned texts before the lectures in order to derive the most benefit from them. Since the number of copies of any reading is limited, alternatives are offered where possible, but students are advised to begin reading early in the term. All the critical essays are in the Course Packets. The written exam will cover all the lectures plus all the readings. * The essays in brackets are recommended, not compulsory. Primary Sources Poems by W.B.Yeats, P. Kavanagh, S. Heaney, J. Montague, E. Boland, N. Ní Dhumhnaill Plays: W.B.Yeats and Augusta Gregory, Cathleen Ni Houlihan, W.B.Yeats, On Baile’s Strand AND The Dreaming of the Bones, J.M. Synge, The Playboy of the Western World, Brian. Friel, Translations AND Dancing at Lughnasa OR Wonderful Tennessee, Tom Murphy, Bailegangaire OR The House, Frank McGuinness, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me Marina Carr, The Mai Novels: J. McGahern, Amongst Women OR Anne Haverty, One Day as a Tiger S. Deane, Reading in the Dark OR Jennifer Johnston, The Gingerbread Woman Films: My Left Foot, Dir. Jim Sheridan (1987) – shown in class, Oct 7; AND The Crying Game, Dir. Neil Jordan (1992) OR Michael Collins, Dir. Neil Jordan (1996) – viewed on your own.
Secondary Sources Myth *(Kennedy, Gerald Conan, Ancient Ireland, Killala: Morrigan, 1994, 38, 43-58 ) Archeology and Arts *(Brendan Purcell, “In Search of Newgrange: Long Night’s Journey into Day”, The Irish Mind, ed. Richard Kearney, Dublin: Wolfhound, 1985. 39-55.) Music Lillis Ó Laoire, “Irish Music”, The Cambridge Companion to Modern Irish Culture, ed. Joe Cleary and Claire Connolly, Cambridge UP, 2005. 267-84. Film Luke Gibbons, “Projecting the nation: cinema and culture”, The Cambridge Companion to Modern Irish Culture, ed. Joe Cleary and Claire Connolly, Cambridge UP, 2005. 20624.
The Irish Renaissance Kearney, Richard. “Myths of Motherland.” Postnationalist Ireland. London: Routledge, 1997. 108-21. Poetry *(Boland, Eavan. “Outside History.” Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our Time. London: Vintage, 1996. 123-53.) Dolmányos, Péter. “Journeys of John Montague” (excerpt). HJEAS (2004): 139-47. *(Heaney, Seamus, “Keeping Time: Irish Poetry and Contemporary Society.” International Aspects of Irish Literature. Ed. Toshi Fuomoto, et al. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1996. 247-62.) Drama *(Grene, Nicholas, “Talking it through: The Gigli Concert, Bailegangaire.” Talking about Tom Murphy. Ed. Nicholas Grene, Dublin: Carysfort, 2002. 67-81.) *(Lojek, Helen. “Watching Over Frank McGuinness’s Stereotypes. The Theatre of Frank McGuinness. Ed. Helen Lojek. Dublin: Carysfort, 2002. 125-42.”) Richards, Shaun. “Brian Friel: Seizing the Moment of Flux.” Irish University Review, 30:2 (Autumn-Winter 2000): 254-71. Fiction Fogarty, Anne, “Uncanny Families: Neo-Gothic Motifs and the Theme of Social Change in Contemporary Irish Women’s Fiction” (excerpt). IUR 30.1 (2000): 59-81. OR (depending on which novel you read): Garratt, Robert F. “John McGahern’s Amongst Women: Representation, Memory and Trauma”, Irish University Review, 35,1 (Spring/Summer 2005), 121-35. Harte, Liam. “History Lessons: Postcolonialism and Seamus Deane’s Reading in the Dark.” Irish University Review 30.1 (Spring/Summer 2000): 149-62. Nobel Awardees S. Heaney, “Crediting Poetry.” Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. The New Republic 25 December 1995: 27-34.