EL 487.01: Trauma and Literature
Hande Tekdemir
Office: TB 529
hande.tekdemir@boun.edu.tr
Fall 2015
Office Hours: Thu. 11:00-12:00
Fri. 12:00-13:00
& by appointment
Course Objectives:
This class aims to focus on the representation of The Great Famine (1845-1852?) in Irish
and English literatures. We will pay attention to the absence of and silence about the
famine as well as its haunting presence in the selected readings. First, here is what we
will NOT do: Believing that trauma cannot be chronologically structured, texts will not
be studied in a historical timeline. We will avoid limiting ourselves to a discussion of the
history of the Great Famine. Neither will we discuss English and Irish reactions
separately, but consider the points where they converge and diverge. A few articles on
trauma theory will accompany the literary texts, but the class will mostly focus on a
close-reading of the primary sources.
Ideally, we will have two major goals throughout the semester: 1) First goal is to discuss
the function and role of literature in narrating trauma. To that end, we will discuss
literary texts (poetry, drama, fiction) in comparison with other artistic media (such as
songs, film, sculpture, memorials, caricature) and historical texts. As much as discussing
“what happened” at the time of the famine, we will also examine the potential (or lack of
potential) in literature in narrating a traumatic history. 2) Second goal is to consider
“Irishness” as a historical and cultural concept, shaped by the literary and non-literary
texts. As part of an “English Department,” we will broaden our perspective to consider
the English literature and culture in relation to the Irish.
The readings are highly suggestive. While class discussion will focus on this particular
event and its literary & artistic representation, I would like your group projects to
contextualize trauma and literature with reference to non-Irish examples, preferably
examples from Turkish culture and politics in the past and the present.
Evaluation and Requirements:
Class participation
Three short papers
Final Exam
Group project (about one or a group of
trauma victim(s)
% 20
% 30
% 30
% 20
(needs to be on a topic that concerns local
and/or national history other than the Irish)
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Schedule of Readings:
Course Reader is available at Günel photocopy shop. Some of the readings will be
available online at CIMS.
Week 1:
The Specters of the Irish Famine
Sept. 29-Oct. 2 “Famine Roads and Famine Memories” (1898) by Emily Lawless
Poems: “That the Science of Cartography is Limited,” (1994) “The Quarantine,” and
“Outside History” by Eavan Boland; “At a Potato Digging” by Seamus Heaney
Sinead O’Connor, Famine (song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZIB6MslCAo
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sineadoconnor/famine.html
Week 2:
Oct. 6-9
Introduction to Trauma Theory
from Beyond the Pleasure Principle by Sigmund Freud
“Parting Words: Trauma, Silence, and Survival” by Cathy Caruth
“Introduction” by Anne Whitehead
Week 3:
Oct. 13-16
Contemporary Accounts & Eye-Witnesses
“Black Potatoes” and “A Sketch of Famine” in Shamrock Leaves (1851)
by Mrs. Hoare
“Cruxes in Irish Cultural Memory” by Oona Frawley
Poems: “The Feast of Famine” (1870) anonymous; “The Famine Year” by Jane
Francesca Elgee (Lady Wilde); “Siberia” by James Clarence Mangan; “A Mystery” by
Denis Florence MacCarthy
Week 4:
Oct. 20-23
Contemporary Accounts & Eye-Witnesses
from Narrative of a Recent Journey of Six Weeks in Ireland by William Bennett
from Annals of the famine in Ireland, in 1847, 1848, and 1849 by Asenath
Nicholson
“Bearing Witness or the Vicissitudes of Listening” by Dori Laub
Week 5:
Oct. 27-30
Anglo-Irish relations: English guilt & denial
section from The Irish Crisis (1847) by Charles Trevelyan, available at
https://archive.org/details/irishcrisis00trev
Poems: selection from “The British contribution” in Hungry Voice; “For the Commander
of the ‘Eliza’” by Seamus Heaney; “Famine Road” by Eavan Boland
Week 6:
Nov. 3-6
The Famine and Biopolitics
section from “Society Must Be Defended” by Michel Foucault (lecture on
17 March 1976)
Peter Gray, “Potatoes and Providence.” Bullan: an Irish studies journal
1.1 (1994): 75-90. OR from Human Encumbrances by David Nally OR
James D. Donnelly, "'Irish Property Must Pay for Irish Poverty': British
Public Opinion and the Great Irish Famine."
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Week 7:
Nov. 10-13
Victorian Famine Novel: Confirm or Resist official English records?
Week 8:
Nov. 17-20
cont. Victorian Famine Novel
continue The Chronicles of Castle Cloyne
“Truth and Testimony: The Process and the Struggle” by Dori Laub
Week 9:
19th century visual representations of the famine & Irish stereotyping
in English media
review of 19th century paintings and sample caricatures from Punch
Nov. 24-27
section from The Chronicles of Castle Cloyne (1885) by Margaret Brew
Week 10:
Irish immigration and Diaspora
Dec. 1-4
Ballads: “The Fields of Athenry” (old ballad, also a popular football chant, search on
youtube), “Revenge for Skibbereen”
Sinead O’Connor “Paddy’s Lament (song, search on youtube)
Short group activity about Irish songs (please bring an Irish song with you)
Week 11:
Dec. 8-11
cont. Irish immigration and Diaspora
chapters 11 and 13 from Paddy’s Lament, Ireland 1846-1847:Prelude to
Hatred by Thomas Gallagher (chapter 12 is optional)
Selection from Finley Peter Dunne's ‘Mr Dooley’ newspaper columns
Please watch the film Out of Ireland, dir. By Paul Wagner (available on youtube)
Week 12:
Dec. 15-18
Return to the Present: Contemporary Reflections
TBA
Week 13:
Dec. 22-25
TBA
Suggested Reading List: (please consult me if you can’t find them in the library)
Eagleton, Terry. Heathcliff and the Great Hunger: Studies in Irish culture. 1996.
Fegan, Melissa. Literature and the Irish Famine, 2002.
Grada, Cormac. The great Irish famine, 1995.
Kelleher, Margaret, Feminization of Famine: Expressions of the Inexpressible?, 1997.
Lloyd, David. “The Indigent Sublime: Specters of Irish Hunger” Representations, No. 92
(Autumn 2005) 152-185.
McLean, Stuart. The event and its terrors: Ireland, famine, modernity, 2004.
Morash, Christopher. Writing the Irish Famine, 1995.
Morash, Christopher and Richard Hayes ed. Fearful Realities: New Perspectives on the
Famine, 1996.
O’Flaherty, Liam. Kıtlık (Famine), 1937
Smith, Cecil Woodham. The Great Hunger, 1962.
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