This course addresses the notorious “Irish question”, Anglo-Irish relations, and a specific literary national identity within the larger body of English-speaking literature in general. There is little doubt that Irish writers have contributed greatly to the canon of English literature, and that in turn British colonial and post-colonial dealings with Ireland have influenced Irish authors. We will be reading Irish authors from the 16th to the 20th century. Spenser’s A View of the State of Ireland, while the first of our texts, shows the historicity of stereotypes current in English views of Ireland well into the Victorian age. Edgeworth’s novel Castle Rackrent; Yeats’s play “Cathleen ni Houlihan” and several poems and shorter prose pieces from an anthology of Irish writing reflect in various forms the continuing interaction between Ireland and Britain, while establishing a distinct national literature. The thematic unity of this course provides the opportunity of addressing and discussing the various demands different genres make with respect to their literary analysis. Students are required to have read Spenser’s text by the beginning of term (please obtain your own edition); textual knowledge will be tested throughout the course. Qualifications will be discussed in the first session.
Texts:
Edgeworth, Maria. Castle Rackrent. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Regan, Stephan (ed.). Irish Writing: An Anthology of Irish Literature in English 1789 – 1939. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Suggested Reading:
Foster, John Wilson (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Irish Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Kelleher, Margaret and Philip O’Leary. The Cambridge History of Irish Literature, 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
