School of Humanities
Discipline
Course Title
Module Coordinator
Module Title
Lecture times
Teaching Format
Brief outline of
content
Irish Studies
Master of Arts
Mr Tim Keane
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students should be able to:
1. Possess a broad understanding of key issues concerning Irish
writing in English in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
2. Participate in the debate surrounding cultural nationalism in
Ireland.
3. Outline some key contributions Irish writers have made to
English literature.
Assessment Types
and Deadlines
Mid-term essay (40%)
Final essay (60%)
Class presentation (required – unmarked)
Required Text
Core Texts:
IS105: Young Ireland to the Free State: Writing in English, 1849-1922
Semester 1
10 x 2 hour seminars
This course is a survey of Irish literature written in English. Through
close readings of selected texts, the development of cultural
nationalism will be explored. Issues to be examined include: negative
images of Ireland/Irish in Britain (and resistance to such images);
colonial context of Ireland; problems of nationalism; transformative
potential of literature. Within the course, an examination of genre –
drama, poetry and the short story – will help analyse the relationship
between literature, nationalism and politics.
Class reader (available from Secretariat)
John Harrington, Modern Irish Drama.
James Joyce, Dubliners.
George Moore, The Untilled Field.
Suggested:
Declan Kiberd, Inventing Ireland.