Contemporary Irish Literature
M W
DeBartolo 108
Susan
Cannon Harris
712 Flanner
Hall
(574)
631-5088
Office
hours: Monday-Wednesday 4:30-6:00 p.m.
This course
will be devoted to literature written in English by Irish writers since 1968.
We will devote equal time to writers from
Authors may include, but are not necessarily limited
to: Eavan Boland, Seamus Deane, Anne Devlin, Brian Friel, Seamus Heaney, Rita Ann
Higgins, Neil Jordan, Medbh McGuckian, Frank McGuinness, Derek Mahon, Paula
Meehan, Paul Muldoon, Nuala ni Dhomnaill, Jamie O’Brien.
Contemporary Irish Poetry. Ed. Bradley
Reading in the Dark. Seamus Deane
A Green And Mortal Sound: Short Fiction by
Irish Woman Writers. Ed. DeSalvo
Selected Plays. Brian Friel
Poems: 1965-1975. Seamus Heaney
At Swim, Two Boys. Jamie O’Brien
Wake Forest Book of Irish Women’s Poetry. Ed. Peggy O’Brien
The Story of Lucy Gault. William Trevor
Hush a Bye Baby. Film
The Butcher Boy. Film
The Magdalene Sisters. Film
Coursepak available in 301
O'Shaughnessy.
You are responsible for reading everything mentioned
on the syllabus unless I specifically tell you otherwise. Because most of class
time will be spent working with the reading, failure to do the reading will
hurt you, your group, and the class in general. It will also lower your
in-class work grade.
You will write one
major seminar paper of 15-20 pages. There will be several shorter
assignments designed to prepare you for this paper:
Response Papers. You will write three 3-4 page response papers based on
texts that we read in class. DUE DATES FOR RESPONSE PAPERS ARE NOT GIVEN ON THE
SYLLABUS. At the beginning of the semester you will sign up for dates on which
your responses will be due, and late penalties will be assessed accordingly.
The response papers are designed to do two things: 1)
encourage you to engage with the reading more closely so that you will have
more to say about it in class and 2) get you thinking about what you might want
to work on for your final paper.
Topic Proposal and Bibliography. Several weeks before
your final paper is due I will ask you to turn in a 2-3 page topic proposal and
bibliography explaining what your final paper will be about and listing the
works you plan to use.
Draft. A few weeks before
the final paper is due I will ask you to turn in a complete draft to me. I will
give it back to you with feedback that will help you revise, but you will not
be graded on it. However, doing the draft is a basic requirement of the course.
If you fail to turn the draft in on
time, or if your draft is not complete, your final paper will be docked a full
letter grade. If you NEVER turn in a draft, your final grade for the COURSE
will be docked a full letter grade.
A draft is “complete” if it fulfills the requirements
of the assignment. The rule of thumb I use is that if you could hand the paper
in as it is and still receive a passing grade, then it's a complete draft. If
the draft is, for instance, three pages long, or does not respond to the
assignment, or was obviously written between
All assignments will be turned in at the beginning of
class on the days they are due. If you are absent on the day that an assignment
is due, even if your absence is excused, it is your responsibility to make sure
it somehow gets to me at or before
Short assignments—response papers plus the topic proposal and
bibliography—must be turned in on time or they will not be accepted. If your draft is turned in late, your
final paper will be docked a full letter grade. If you turn your final seminar paper late, it will be
docked a full letter grade for every
day it is late. For
instance, if you turn your final paper in after 5:00 on the day it is due, it
will be considered half a day late and your final paper will be docked half a
letter grade--an A will go down to a B+, etc. If your paper is due on Monday,
and it is turned in at
Your work is considered turned in when I find it. If you leave a paper at my office
Thursday night and I do not come across it until Monday morning, then for all
intents and purposes, you turned it in on Monday. For this reason, if you are
turning something in late, it is a good idea to contact me and arrange a
delivery time.
All written work must be
typed on a word processor. Papers must be double-spaced throughout (except for
block quotations and footnotes). Include page numbers. Margins should be no
wider than 1.25" on the right and left and 1" on the top and bottom
(standard setting on most word processors). The font size must be 12-point.
Papers that do not meet these requirements will be docked half a letter grade.
All papers must include a title, the number of the assignment, your name, my
name, and the date.
At the beginning of the semester I will divide you into research groups.
Your group will be responsible for one in-class presentation during the
semester. You will also be responsible for leading class discussion on the
text(s) on which you present. Both the oral presentation and the ensuing
discussion will be assessed in determining your group's overall grade for the
presentation.
Plagiarism--attempting to pass off someone else's
writing as your own--is a serious offense and will not be tolerated. This goes
for your drafts and short assignments as well as the major papers. If I find
evidence that you have plagiarized any
part of any assignment, I will
prosecute you to the fullest extent allowable by the Academic Honor Code. This
includes all drafts, short assignments, and presentations.
We will discuss plagiarism in class, and work on how
to cite sources properly to avoid confusion about what is your work and what is
someone else's. If at any point you are uncertain about whether you may have
plagiarized from a source you used, please ask me about it before turning in the paper.
Because this class places a tremendous importance on
student interaction, your presence and participation are crucial to the
well-being of the class as a whole. Attendance is mandatory. If you miss ten
minutes or more of a class, either at the beginning or at the end, that counts
as an unexcused absence.
The only excuses for absence that I accept are
religious holidays, physical or mental illness (verified by the appropriate
health care professional), or serious emotional trauma. I will allow one
unexcused absence for the semester free of charge; after that, your in-class
work grade drops 20 points with each unexcused absence. If you have four unexcused absences you will fail the course. It
is your responsibility to keep track of your absences.
I will always be available in my office during my
office hours for conferences. If you can't make those hours you can always set
up an appointment with me for another time.
Your final grade for the course breaks down as
follows:
Seminar paper: 65%
Shorter assignments: 15%
Presentation: 10%
Class participation: 10%
Papers will be assigned letter grades. Shorter
assignments will be graded on a check/minus/plus system. These grades will be
converted into percentages at the end of the semester and averaged out, at
which point final grades will be assigned.
Your class participation grade covers your
attendance, group work, contributions to class discussion, and source reports.
Aug. 24
Introduction
Aug.
29
Coursepak: Chronology of Irish history (1-4)
Seamus Deane, Reading in the Dark 1-136
August
31
Reading in the
Dark 137-233
September
5
Response papers: Amber, Luke,
Jessica
Friel, Selected Plays:
Translations
Heaney:
“Anahorish” (94), “Toome” (104), “Broagh” (105), “The Wool Trade” (115)
O’Brien:
Moya Cannon,
“Scriob,” “Thole-Pin” (238-239)
September
7
Response papers: Ryan, Jason, Matt
Heaney:
“Digging” (3-4), “Traditions” (109-110)
Bradley:
John Montague, “The Answer,” “The Wild Dog Rose,” “A Grafted Tongue” (201-202,
204-209, 211-212); Ciaran Carson, “Dresden,” “Belfast Confetti” (399-404); Paul
Muldoon, “Anseo” (425-426)
O'Brien:
Boland, “The Oral Tradition” (11); McGuckian, “The Dream-Language of Fergus,”
“Elegy for an Irish Speaker” (104, 119); Nuala ni Dhomnaill, “An Ceann/The
Head,” “Cailleach/Hag,” “Ceist na Teangan/The Language Issue,” “An Bhatrail/The
Battering,” “An Mhuruch san Ospideal/The Mermaid in the Hospital,” (129-180)
Week Four: Sacrifice
September
12
Response papers: Luke, Will, Callie
Heaney:
“Requiem for the Croppies,” “Undine,” “Bogland,” “A Northern Hoard,”
“Midnight,” “The Tollund Man,” “Wedding Day,” Mother of the Groom,” “Summer
Home”
Coursepak: 4a-17
"Editorial," "Women In Irish Mythology," "Women In Early Irish Myths and Sagas"
September
14
Response
papers: Callie, Rory
Bradley:
Heaney, “The
Coursepak: 20-36
September
19
Response
papers: Katie Murray, Meghan Hanzlik, Will
Coursepak: 37-70
“A Short Historical Background,” “Civil Rights,” “Free
Heaney:
North, Part One
September
21
Response papers: Kate Petelle, Meghan Donaldson,
Katie Bush
Bradley:
Seamus Deane, “A
Schooling,” “History Lessons”
(307-308, 310-311); Tom Paulin, “Under the Eyes,” Surveillances,”
“And Where Do You Stand on the National Question?”, “Desertmartin” (406-411);
Paul Muldoon, “Meeting the British,” “Christo’s” (431, 434)
Heaney:
North, Part Two
September
26
Response
papers: Jason, Bobby
Coursepak: 71-87
Kinsella,
“Butcher's Dozen;” Deane, foreword to Bloody Sunday in Derry, “After
Online:
“Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972—A
Chronology of Events.”
CAIN Web Service,
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/chron.htm
Bradley:
Deane, “
September
28
Response
papers: Kate Petelle, Katie Murray
Presentation:
Katie Bush, Meghan Hanzlik, Bobby, Matt
Friel, Selected Plays:
Freedom of the
City
Coursepak: 88-114
“Whitewash,” appendices to Eyewitness Bloody Sunday: The
Truth.
October
3
Response papers: Meghan Hanzlik, Joanna
DeSalvo:
Anne Devlin, “Naming the Names” (93-113); Fiona Barr, “The Wall Reader”
(46-52); Ann McKay, “Checkpoint” (239-243); Brenda Murphy, “A Curse” (226-227)
Coursepak: 115-134
Notes for DeSalvo stories; chronology of the
October
5
Response
papers: Jessica, Meghan Hanzlik
Coursepak: 135-188
Anne Devlin, Ourselves
Alone; “Anne Devlin in Conversation
with Enrica Cerquoni”
October
10
Response papers: Luke, Matt, Callie
Presentation: Kate Petelle, Joanna, Rory, Jason
William Trevor, The Story of Lucy Gault
(1-140)
October
12
Response
papers: Ryan, Kate Petelle
Trevor, The Story of Lucy Gault (141-end)
Fall
Break
October
24
Response papers: Amber, Jason
Presentation:
Amber, Luke, Jessica, Katie M.
De Salvo:
Maura Treacy, “Made in Heaven” (131-138); Evelyn Conlon, “Park-Going
Days” (164-170); Julia O'Faolain, “Melancholy Baby” (62-78); Clare Boylan,
“Housekeeper's Cut” (17-30)
Coursepak: 189-166
Constitution of Ireland, articles
41-42
October
26
Response papers: Ryan, Bobby
O'Brien:
Boland, "Degas's Laundresses," “Woman In Kitchen,” (6-7);
Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, “Pygmalion's Image,” “The Architectural Metaphor,” “Man
Watching a Woman," “Translation” (58, 69, 76, 82); Medbh McGuckian, “On
Not Being Your Lover,” “The Most Emily of All” (96, 106); Kerry Hardie,
"The Husband's Tale" (263).
October
31
Response papers: Amber, Meghan Donaldson
DeSalvo:
Harriet O'Carroll, “The Day of the Christening” (53-61); Eilis ni
Dhuibhne, “Midwife to the Fairies” (31-38); Leland Bardwell, “The Dove of
Peace” (244-256)
Coursepak: 167-196
“Chronology” from Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
November
2
Response
papers: Bobby, Katie Bush
Film:
Margot Harkin, Hush-a-bye
baby
Heaney:
“Limbo” (148)
O'Brien:
Mary O'Malley,
"Cealtrach" (249)
Unit IV: Back To
The Future
November
7
Conferences. No Class.
November
9
Presentation:
Meghan Donaldson, Callie, Will, Ryan
Response papers: Joanna, Rory
Nuala O’Faolain, Are You Somebody?
November
14
TOPIC PROPOSAL DUE.
Jamie O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys chapters
1-6 (1-132)
November
16
Response
papers: Meghan Donaldson, Katie Bush
O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys
chapters 7-10 (133-249)
O’Neill, At Swim, Two
Boys chapters 11-16 (250-400)
November
23
Thanksgiving
Break
November
28
O’Neill, At Swim, Two
Boys chapters 17-20 (401-562)
November
30
DRAFT DUE.
Presentation of final projects.
Week Fifteen: The Irish In Us
December
5
Response
paperes: Katie Murray, Joanna
Neil Jordan, The Butcher Boy (film)
December
7
Wrap-up, drafts
returned, TCEs
SEMINAR
PAPER DUE:
by