Detailed Information
AE-LN140 - Twentieth Century Irish Writing
This series of weekly classes explores Ireland’s unique and fascinating literary tradition by examining the work of the country’s major writers. Discussing drama, fiction, and poetry, the course surveys the themes of modern Irish writing and introduces participants to the aesthetic achievements of Ireland’s key authors. Each session will focus on key works from the canons of these remarkable writers and in this way innovations in drama, poetry, and fiction and their legacy in Irish writing will be examined. In tracing the development of Irish literature, the course also explores the social, political, and cultural environments of Ireland from the late nineteenth century to the present day: the cultural nationalism which informs the revivalist aesthetics of Yeats and Synge, the counter-revivalism of Joyce and O’Casey, the spiritual deflation of Protestant Ireland observed in Beckett, and the renaissance in Irish poetry which witnessed a process of marked social change and the terror of the northern conflict. In addition, the fascinating relationships and interfaces between Ireland’s literary giants will be explored as a way of understanding how each writer inherits the Irish literary tradition whilst making their own unique contributions to its evolution, and indeed to the development of world literature. Through its resonant setting and iconic texts this course celebrates the centrality of the written word to the life of the nation.
National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street
8 Tuesdays 10.00am - 12.30pm
Oct 3, 10, 17, 31, Nov 7, 14, 21, 28
(No class on Oct 24)
Week 1. The Irish Literary Revival: Contexts and Ideologies
Week 2. Yeats, Gregory, Synge and the Abbey Theatre
Week 3. ‘Uncreated conscience’: Joyce’s counter-revivalism
Week 4. ‘Rotten ripe’: O’Casey’s Dublin
Week 5. Beckett and Irish Protestant writing
Week 6. Friel, Murphy and contemporary Irish theatre
Week 7. McGahern and the Irish novel
Week 8. Heaney, Boland and Irish poetry since the 1960s
On Completion of this course, students should be able to;
- Describe the thematic concerns of the texts explored
- Discuss the artistic achievements of each author
- Discuss representations of Irish society in twentieth-century literature and drama.
- Attempt close readings of poetry, fiction, and drama.
Dr Alan Graham lectures in Irish literature in the School of English, Drama, and Film at University College Dublin and publishes regularly on Beckett, Joyce, and contemporary Irish literature and drama. In addition to university teaching, Alan has many years experience as an Adult Education teacher.
Beckett, Samuel. Complete Dramatic Works. London: Faber & Faber, 2006.
Boland, Eavan. Collected Poems. London: Carcanet, 2005.
Friel, Brian. Plays: One. London: Faber & Faber, 2001.
Heaney, Seamus. Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996. London: Faber & Faber, 1998.
Joyce, James. Dubliners. Ulysses. London: Penguin, 1992 (introduction by Declan Kiberd)
O’Casey, Seán. Three Plays. London: Pan Classics, 1980.
Synge, J.M. The Playboy of the Western World and Other Plays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Yeats, W.B. Collected Poems. Augustine Martin, ed. London: Vintage, 1992.