Module Code - Title:
EH4036
-
IRISH LITERATURE 1930 - 1990
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
N
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
The module revises and updates a module (EH4126 -- Imagined Spaces: Irish Cultural Texts) in ways which better reflect the broad range of faculty interests in twentieth-century Irish literature. It will introduce students to a range of Irish literary work and cultural movements in the period 1930-1990. This was a period in which literary censorship was a controversial topic, and the threat posed by literary radicals to the stability of the new state(s) widely debated. Taking this as a starting point, the module will encourage students to interrogate the ways in which Irish literary culture challenged state censorship, how it evolved over the century, and what the impact of literary writing has been on dominant social and cultural formations on the island. Attending to innovations in style, structure, and genre in the period, the module will concentrate on formal as well as cultural experimentation.
Syllabus:
The module will introduce students to a range of twentieth-century Irish literary work, focusing on literary realism, avant garde experimentation, autobiography and memoir, radio writing, and film adaptation, to give just some examples. Topics covered may include urban/rural representations, the "Irish city" (which will include transnational examples), "the Troubles" in Irish culture, changing gender representations, sexualities, language questions, migration, and the representation of minority communities in the culture. While the main focus will be on literary material, the module will also consider the broadcast media and film work of some authors involved, such as Kate O'Brien and Sam Hanna Bell, to give two well-known examples.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to
•Identify key texts and themes in Irish literary movements in the period;
•Demonstrate a clear comprehension of the social, cultural, and political contexts that shaped Irish literary production in the same period;
•Carry out close readings of selected literary texts, analysing their formal and generic aspects, and their cultural meanings;
•Synthesise and critique critical assessments of these literatures;
•Assess ways in which these texts contribute to and/or disrupt received ideas about Irish literature and twentieth-century Irish culture;
•Select relevant primary and secondary readings to produce well-written and well-documented research papers and essays, appropriate to third-year level.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Demonstrate a greater knowledge of Ireland's literary and cultural heritage;
Relate that knowledge to contemporary concerns and cultural activity;
Demonstrate in writing and in oral presentations a critical appreciation of the aesthetic, ethical, political, and national questions raised in literary history and critical debates thereupon.
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
n/a
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
This module is taught by a combination of lectures -- which will situate twentieth-century Irish literature in its historical and generic contexts -- and tutorials which will facilitate close readings of individual texts and proactive discursive exchanges on issues of theme, form, and critical reception. Together, these lectures and tutorials will equip students with a deeper knowledge of Ireland's creative and artistic heritage. the module will be examined by essay and presentation work which will enhance students' literary, critical, and historical vocabulary.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Bowen, Elizabeth (1986)
Elizabeth Bowen's Irish Stories
, Poolbeg
Brennan, Maeve (2000)
The Rose Garden: Short Stories
, Counterpoint
McGahern, John (1990)
Amongst Women
, Faber
Other Relevant Texts:
Cleary, Joe and Connolly, Claire, eds. (2005)
The Cambridge Companion to Modern Irish Culture
, Cambridge University Press
Gibbons, Luke (1996)
Transformations in Irish Culture
, University of Notre Dame Press
Meaney, Gerardine (2010)
Gender, Ireland and Cultural Change: Race, Sex, and Nation
, Routledge
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
BAENHIUFA - English and History
BANMENUFA - New Media and English
BAJOHOUFA - JOINT HONOURS
BLLAPLUFA - (LAW PLUS)
BALLFIUFA - Languages, Literature and Film
BAINMEUFA - Irish and New Media
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Spring
Module Leader:
Niamh.Hehir@ul.ie