sign in sign up
<<
Home , Irish literature

Literature The Irish Literary Tradition from The Tain to Toibin

Faculty: Ms. Barbara J. Burch - Georgetown College Professor English Course: Credit Hours: 3 Course Levels Offered: Lower Division (100-200 Level) or Upper Division (300-400 Level) Can this course be taken to fulfill major and minor requirements? YES Can this course be taken to fulfill general elective credit? YES Local Course Designator at Georgetown College: English 196 English 458 Prerequisites: Students who take the lower level course should have completed their college's basic writing requirement. Students who take the upper level course should have a completed a survey or Intro to Literature course. Description: is a small country with an outsized literary tradition. This course is designed to bring the genius, value and profound fun of that tradition into focus. We will read "greatest hits" of , starting with the tragi-comic exploits of Cuchulain in The Tain Bo Culaigne and moving on to important works by Swift, yeats, Synge and several contemporary authors, particularly Toibin. Visits to sites like the Museum at Sandy Cove, the monastic ruins at Glendalough situated in the gorgeous Wicklow Mountains, and Yeats's home at Thoor Ballylee will help you to construct a profound understanding of Irish literary tradition. All of our reading will be enriched by visits to such relevant sites of historical, archaeological and mythical significance. Content: Goals Students who complete this course will demonstrate: A broad knowledge of the phases of Irish Literary History An introductory to intermediate grasp of a selection of major Irish literary texts and authors An understanding of the significance of geography and landscape in Irish literary texts An understanding of the historical, political and other cultural forces that shape Irish literature Major Topics: Medieval Irish Literature and the Monastic Tradition. Read The Tain, excerpts from the autobiography of St. Patrick and a few short lyrics in connection with Archaeological and Monastic Sites Irish Writing from Plantation to the beginning of the .

Read Swift, Edgeworth, Carleton and discuss in relation to a visit to Irish Writers Museum, Irish History Museum, 's Cathedral and other sites in The Irish Literary Revival Read Wilde, Joyce, Yeats, Synge and Gregory and discuss in relation to Irish Writers Museum, various Dublin sites such as the Joyce Museum in Sandycove, the Yeats Exhibit and the National Library, the Yeats Country and other sites in the West of Ireland such as the , and (if possible) a theater performance in Dublin or Sligo. Irish Fiction and Poetry Since Joyce and Yeats: Read selections from Lavin, O'Brien, Behan, Heaney, Carson, Boland and Tobin in relation to sites in Dublin, and (In addition to those mentioned previously: Belfast Murals, the Corrymeela Institute, Linden Hall Library, Milltown Cemetery, etc.) Assessment Methods: READING AND CLASS DISCUSSION (20%) Our our time is short, but we will have daily class meetings in addition to our visits to the sites on our itinerary. We will use these periods to discuss the short readings and get to know the background that will help you make connections between the places we are visiting and the works we are reading. Many of these meetings will take place early in the day or later in the evening, possibly over breakfast, so you will need to adjust your sleep schedules to be present. JOURNAL AND WORKBOOK (30%) You will document your experiences observations daily in a Travel Log or Journal. This work will take about 30 minutes per day. In addition to recording where you went and what you saw, personal reflections are perfectly appropriately. I will read these journals, but if there is something you do not want me to read, fold the written page over and mark "Do Not Read." Since I've traveled a good deal and served as faculty on two study abroad trips to London, I know from personal experience that it can be very difficult to keep up with a journal of this sort. Often we are simply tired and trust our memories too much. I've had some students attempt to write their journals after they returned home, a dubious strategy at best. For this reason, part of your grade on the journal will come from your completing your entries and sharing them with me on a daily basis. The Workbook may sound a little bit like middle school, but I ask you to trust that I will not saddle you with busy work. I developed a series of "work sheets" that will help you to experience and gather particular information from each site we visit. We will discuss these exercises after a given visit. You will use them to complete your final project. ESSAY EXAM (20%) This is essentially your "final exam" After you return from Ireland, write a six to seven page paper that reflects on how five of the authors we read and discussed process one of the following themes: The Role of Women Motherhood Violence Nationalism Food (focusing perhaps on appetites or hunger) Storytelling Folklore Geography/Place HISTORY OF IRISH LITERATURE PROJECT (30%) One of the challenges of this trip is that we will be visiting places of literary, cultural, and historical significance in an order that bears no relation to the chronology of Irish Literary History. For example, I want you to understand the role of early Christian Monasteries, but we won't visit the ruins of one such monastery until the last days of our trip! To help you order and synthesize your material, you will assemble your notes, work sheets results, and excerpts from your journal and the pictures you will undoubtedly collect into a book that writes the history of Irish literature as you come to understand it. In other words, you will turn your written work, memories and pictures into a “book” that tells presents Irish literary history and its contexts in chronological order. To produce this book you may use a largish blank journal, a word processor, prezi, or one of the many commercial and free apps for computers or tablets that are easily available. I will be using the ipad app "Noteshelf" for my version of this project. This work will be worth 30% of your final grade.

1906 College Heights Blvd – Tate Page Hall Room 104 – Bowling Green, KY 42101 – 270‐745‐4512 – [email protected]