Studies in English: Irish Literature

      Ireland has produced some of the most moving and most powerful English-language literature.  The first half of the course will focus on the great writers of what many call “the Irish Renaissance,” the period at the beginning of the twentieth century when Irish writers were able, in the words of the critic Declan Kiberd, “to make Ireland once again interesting to the Irish.” Of course they made Ireland interesting to others as well, but it was the shift in their subject matter--to the subject of their own land--that triggered the explosion of creative activity in poetry, drama, and fiction.  This Renaissance took place in the context of the creation of the Irish national state, independent from Britain after seven hundred years of colonial status.  It also took place at the time of an international literary movement, Modernism, that very consciously looked forward.  Two giant figures tower over the literature of this period—W.B. Yeats and James Joyce--and we will spend considerable time with these two, talking about their very complicated uses of tradition. 

      The second half of the course will turn to writers perhaps lesser known, and definitely to an agenda less clearly defined, in the writings of post-Civil War Ireland. While we will look at a few poets the bulk of this section will be fiction, from the wonderful short story writers of mid-century--such as Liam O’Flaherty, Mary Lavin, and William Trevor--to some of the great novelists of more recent times, including Edna O’Brien, Roddy Doyle, Claire Keegan, and Sally Rooney. In these years Irish literature still looks to Ireland, but it also forges connections with the broader worlds of Europe and global culture.