Literature and Northern Ireland
Engl 4xx
Welles 119
TTh 11:20-12:35
Dr. Rob Doggett
Office: Welles 217B
Office Hours: T 3:30-4:30, Th 10-11
Email: Doggett@geneseo.edu Phone: x5221
Course Overview
This course will explore the different ways that Northern Irish authors have responded to the political, social,
economic, and cultural issues attending the sectarian violence that engulfed Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the
late 1990s.We will analyze recent fiction, poetry, and drama within the context of Irish history, focusing in
particular on key events from 1969 to the present (e.g., the “Bloody Sunday” shootings, Bobby Sands’ hunger strike,
the IRA bombing at Enniskillen). Issues to be explored will include: the longstanding material, social, and
psychological impacts of Northern Ireland’s connection with the United Kingdom; the attempt to “reclaim” Irish
identities; the role of terrorism; the advantages and dangers of creating a “national” literature; gender and its
relationship to Irish identities; the impact of the Catholic and Protestant Churches; poverty, emigration, and the
problems of writing “outside” of Ireland.
Grades
Participation
Discussion Leadership
Short Essay
Research Essay
Final Exam
20%
15%
15%
25%
25%
Attendance
The easiest way to do well in this course is to attend class. Doing so will raise your quiz average, your participation
average, and, because you will be taking notes and participating in our discussions about the works, it will help you
to do well on the exams. In my experience, students who miss class on a regular basis generally have difficulty
passing the course.
Participation
Class participation counts for a significant portion of your grade. If you always come to class, frequently respond to
my questions in a thoughtful, perceptive manner, and if you demonstrate, though your comments and questions, that
you have carefully read the works, you will receive a high participation grade (A). If you attend frequently, but only
occasionally offer comments and questions on the works, you will receive an average participation grade (C+). If
you miss class frequently, are continually late, or often behave with indifference (e.g., doing other course work,
napping, etc.), you will receive a low participation grade (D) or, in some instances, will receive a zero.
Discussion Leadership
On the second day of class I will distribute a discussion leadership sign up sheet. Three (or, in some cases, two)
students will be responsible for leading discussion for a given section (i.e., for EACH class in that section—usually
two class periods). For details on this assignment, please see the separate handout.
Papers
You will write two essays for the course, a short (3-4 page) essay and a longer (10-12 page) research paper. I will
discuss the particulars of each essay in class, but, as a rule of thumb, the paper should make an argument about a
given work and it should prove that argument through detailed close reading. If you need an extension, please see
me in advance. I reserve the write to penalize late papers. You must turn in the research essay to turn pass the
course.
Exams
There will be a comprehensive final exam. You must take and pass the final in order to pass the class.
Other concerns
If you have a disability that might impact your classroom performance, please see me. I will assume that all of the
work you turn in for this class is your own. Taking language or ideas from any outside source without proper
attribution constitutes plagiarism. If you engage in plagiarism, you will fail the assignment, may very well fail
the course, and will be referred to the college for disciplinary actions.
Syllabus
August
28
T
Introduction
30
Th
Seamus Heaney: from Death of a Naturalist: “Digging,” “Death of a Naturalist,”
“Blackberry-Picking,” “Mid-Term Break,” “Antaeus”; from Door into the Dark: “The Outlaw,”
“The Forge,” “Requiem for the Croppies,” “Night Drive,” “Bogland,”; from Wintering Out: “Bog
Oak,” “The Backward Look,” “The Tollund Man,” “Mother of the Groom,” “Westering”
John Montague: from The Rough Field: Preface and “Home Again”
September
4
T
John Montague: from The Rough Field: “The Leaping Fire,” “The Bread God,” “A Severed
Head,” “The Fault”
6
Th
John Montague: from The Rough Field: “A Good Night,” “Hymn to the New Omagh Road,”
“Patriotic Suite,” “A New Siege,” “The Wild Dog Rose,” Epilogue
Distribute poems by Paul Muldoon
10
M
Screening of Bloody Sunday (Time and Place TBA)
11
T
Thomas Kinsella: “Butcher’s Dozen” (poem available at:
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/kinsella.htm)
Please go to the following website: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/index.html and click on
the following links:
--“Summary” of main event (browse this section)
--“Report of the Tribunal appointed to inquire into events on Sunday 30th January 1972”
(read only: “Summary of conclusions”)
--“Blood in the Street” (read only: “The Mass Murder”)
--Read anything else of interest to you; print out items you’d like to discuss in class
Note: when you come to class, please have a copy of the Kinsella poem printed out.
Paul Muldoon: “Anseo,” “The Year of the Sloes, for Ishi,” “Meeting the British,” “Cauliflowers”
(note: copies of these poems will be distributed prior to class)
13
Th
Seamus Heaney: from North: “Mossbawn: Two Poems in Dedication,” “Funeral Rites,”
“North,”Viking Dublin,” “Bone Dreams,” “Bog Queen,” “The Grauballe Man,” “Punishment,”
“Strange Fruit,” “Kinship,” “Act of Union,” “Hercules and Antaeus”
18
T
Seamus Heaney: from North: from “Whatever You Say Say Nothing,” “Singing School”: “The
Ministry of Fear,” “A Constable Calls,” “Orange Drums,” “Summer 1969,” “Fosterage,”
“Exposure”
17
M
Screening of the Frontline Documentary: Behind the Mask: Sinn Fein and the IRA (time and
place TBA)
20
Th
Medbh McGuckian: from The Flower Master and Other Poems: “Smoke,” “Faith,” “The
‘Singer,’” “Lychees,” “Slips,” “Aunts,” “The Hollywood Bed,” “The Soil-Map,” “Gateposts,”
“Matchmaking,” “The Flower Master,” “The Aphrodisiac,” “The Flitting,” “Power-Cut,” “The
Heiress”; from Venus and the Rain: “The Difficult Age,” “To the Nightingale,” “From the
Dressing-Room,” “The Sitting,” “On Not Being Your Lover,” “Isba Song,” Hotel,” “Dovecote,”
“Pain Tells You What to Wear”
25
T
Anne Devlin: Ourselves Alone (entire)
27
Th
Bernard Maclaverty: Cal (7-89)
1
M
Screening of In the Name of the Father (Time and Place TBA)
2
T
Bernard Maclaverty: Cal (90-end)
4
Th
Stewart Parker: Northern Star (entire)
9
T
Fall Break
11
Th
Eoin McNamee: Resurrection Man (3-114)
16
T
Eoin McNamee: Resurrection Man (117-233)
18
Th
Christina Reid: Joyriders (entire)
23
T
Medbh McGuckian: from On Ballycastle Beach: “What Does ‘Early’ Mean?” “A Conversation
Set to Flowers,” “Sea or Sky?” “Minus 18 Street,” “Querencia,” “The Blue She Brings with Her,”
“Four O’Clock, Summer Street,” “Scenes from a Brothel,” “The Dream Language of Fergus,” “On
Ballycastle Beach,” “The Bond”
25
Th
Seamus Heaney: from Field Work: “The Strand at Lough Beg,” “Casualty,” “The Skunk,” “A
Dream of Jealousy,” “Field Work,” “Leavings,” “The Harvest Bow,” “Ugolino”; from Station
Island: “Station Island” (Parts I-V)
30
T
Seamus Heaney: from Station Island: “Station Island” (Parts VI-XII), “A Hazel Stick for
Catherine Ann,” “A Kite for Michael and Christopher,” “Sheelagh na Gig,” “The Master,” “An
Artist”
October
November
1
Th
Christina Reid: The Belle of the Belfast City (entire)
6
T
Robert McLiam Wilson: Eureka Street (1-130)
8
Th
Robert McLiam Wilson: Eureka Street (131-256)
13
T
Robert McLiam Wilson: Eureka Street (257-396)
15
Th
John Montague: from The Dead Kingdom: “Upstream,” “This Neutral Realm,” “The Black Pig”
20
T
John Montague: from The Dead Kingdom: “The Silver Flask” and “A Flowering Absence”
22
Th
Thanksgiving Break
27
T
Ronan Bennett: The Catastrophist (1-122)
29
Th
Ronan Bennett: The Catastrophist (123-218)
December
4
T
Ronan Bennett: The Catastrophist (219-332)
6
Th
Medbh McGuckian: from Marconi’s Cottage: “The Sun-Mo0n Child,” “The Invalid’s Echo,”
“The Man with Two Women,” “Gigot Sleeves,” “The Most Emily of All,” “No Streets, No
Numbers,” “Clotho,” “the Partner’s Desk,” “The War Ending,” “Breaking the Blue,” “She Which
Is Not, He Which Is,” “The Snow Speaker,” “Marconi’s Cottage,” “On Her Second Birthday”;
from Captain Lavender: “Candles at Three Thirty,” “Field Heart,” “Elegy for the Irish Speaker,”
“The Aisling Hat,” “The Albert Chain,” “Lines for Thanksgiving,” “Captain Lavender,” “The War
Degree”
Final Exam:
Tuesday, December 18, 12:00-3:00 pm