English, Imperial Valley Campus
English 544: Modern Irish Literature
Spring 2015
Instructor Contact Information
Instructor: Dr. Jeanette Shumaker
Office: WF 157
Office hours: T, 3-4; W 3-4 & 6-7; Th 12:30-12:45 & by appointment
Phone: 760-768-5524
Email: jshumake@mail.sdsu.edu
Website: See Campus webpage, then Faculty
Section and Enrollment Information
Class meeting: Wed 7:25-10:05
Class location: C-10
Schedule number: 60015
Course prerequisites:
Enrollment and crashing policies:
Course Description
This course will introduce you to twentieth-century Irish literature, and, as relevant, Irish
history. Major figures like Yeats and Beckett will be discussed, but also lesser-known
writers such as Bernard MacLaverty. You will complete a variety of writing assignments,
and participate in a seminar-format course that relies on your contributions to class
discussion. You will also present oral reports on works that the rest of the class hasn’t read
to expand the group’s knowledge of Irish literature. In addition, you will present creative
performances of works the whole class has read. As in my other courses, we will work on
improving close reading, essay writing, library research, and speaking skills through
analyzing literature, as befits an upper-division English course.
Student Learning Outcomes
1. In class and out of class, write essays analyzing literary texts that show your ability to
use evidence to create a compelling argument addressed to English professors. This
includes discussing quotes and examples from the literary text; analyzing scholarly articles
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and books, or historical or theoretical sources relevant to the literary text; addressing
figurative language within the text including symbols, analogies, irony and hyperbole;
placing the text in its literary genre or genres and era, as influenced by its author’s nation,
gender, race and, in the case of the Irish, religion.
2. In class discussions and oral reports, examine themes, figurative language, stylistic
nuances, character and historical contexts of literary texts. Respond meaningfully to other
students’ comments and questions, and present your own.
3. Develop close reading techniques such as taking notes about a literary work’s figurative
language, themes, style and characters, compelling passages and connections to other
literary works; come up with your own questions about a literary text and answer those
questions; in your informal writings, comment about specific passages or themes etc. in a
literary work.
4. In your creative project, exercise your imagination and improve your acting skills,
apprehending assigned literary works inventively rather than analytically.
Course Materials
Required Readings and Materials
Books are available at the campus bookstore and via Amazon.
Enright, Anne, ed. The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story (anthology) (GISS) about $25
ISBN 978-1847082558
MacLaverty, Bernard. Cal about $15 ISBN 978-0393313321
Harrington, John (ed.). Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama. 2nd Edition. Norton
(anthology) (MID) about $25, ISBN 9780393932430
Toibin, Colm. Brooklyn about $15 ISBN 978-1439148952
Three blue books for the final, about $1.50.
Recommended Readings and Materials
Available via Amazon, if you feel you need help writing papers—Writing with Style by John
Trimble, about $15, ISBN 9780205028818.
Course Website
See Blackboard.
Assessment and Grading
A grade of C on an assignment means that you have competently completed it, whereas a
grade of A denotes an outstanding performance in terms of content, organization, and style.
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A grade of B means a good performance. Grammatical correctness and clean copy are
required for passing work at the upper division level.
Assignments and Exams
Final Grades
Essay (at least 1,800 words, drawing on at least 3 scholarly sources)
25%
Participation (informal writings/ discussion)
25%
Creative Performance
10%
Final Exam
25%
Oral Report
15%
Grading Policies
In terms of equivalency with the 4.0 campus grading scheme, 3.85 and higher is an A; 3.53.84 is an A-; 3.15-3.49 is a B+; 2.85-3.14 is a B; 2.5-2.84 is a B-; 2.15-2.49 is a C+; 1.85-2.14
is a C; 1.5-1.84 is a C-; 1.15-1.49 is a D+; .85-1.14 is a D; .5-.84 is a D-; 0-.49 is an F.
Course Activities and Schedule
(Describe the course schedule and activities, including due dates and major milestones. You
may choose to present the information in a list or by using a table; a table is preferable to
use of tabbing to achieve desired layout.)
(Date)
(Topic)
(Readings to be completed prior
to class)
(Assignments /
Activities)
1/28
Abbey Theatre and Irish
Plays
Discuss Yeats’s “At The Hawk’s
Well,” “Cathleen Ni Houlihan,”
and Synge’s “Riders to the Sea”
in Modern Irish Drama (MID).
Bring a typed page
of questions and
comments.
2/4
Plays of the 1920s
Discuss O’Casey’s “Juno and
the Paycock” in MID.
No written
homework.
2/11
Northern Irish fiction
Discuss Bernard
MacLaverty’s Cal.
Bring a page of
questions and
comments.
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(Date)
(Topic)
(Readings to be completed prior
to class)
(Assignments /
Activities)
2/18
Short stories
In GISS, read “Road to the
Shore,” “The Pram,” “An Attack
of Hunger,” “Summer Voices”
and “Summer Night.”
No written
homework
2/25
Peer review and poems
Bring 3 typed copies of your
rough draft
3/4
Speaker on Irish modernism
Dr. Jennifer FitzGerald, Queen’s
U, Belfast, N. Ireland
3/11
Play and short fiction
Discuss Beckett’s “Krapp’s Last
Tape” in MID and “The Mad
Lomasneys” in GISS.
Bring a page of
questions and
comments.
3/18
Short stories
In GISS, read “Villa Marta,”
“Lilacs,” “The Trout,” “Night
in Tunisia” and “Sister
Imelda.”
No written
homework.
3/25
Film
Turn in essay with two
completed peer reviews.
4/8
Contemporary novel
Discuss Brooklyn.
Bring a page of
questions and
comments.
4/15
Contemporary play
Discuss Carr’s The Bog of Cats in
MID. Poems TBA.
No written
homework.
4/29
Historical play
Discuss Friel’s Translations in
MID.
Bring a page of
questions and
comments.
5/6
Final exam
Bring all books and blue books.
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(Date)
(Topic)
(Readings to be completed prior
to class)
5/13
Creative Projects
Perform and turn in your creative
projects.
(Assignments /
Activities)
Course Assignments
Creative Performance
Choose a work from our reading list and describe how you’d turn it into a film. Would you
omit certain characters or subplots, for example? What movie stars would you cast in the
major roles? Would you use flashbacks or other unusual camera techniques, and if so, when
and why? Would you modernize the story, change its location, or put it in another period,
such as the Wild West? Explain why you’d make the changes you’d make in one-three
pages, typed.
On a separate page, freely translate at least 50 lines from the work you’ve chosen into the
style of your screenplay (i.e. contemporary or Spanglish or Texan or Elizabethan etc.).
Identify the page numbers from the source work. Provide any costume, scenery, or camera
directions needed to help me understand this excerpt from your projected screenplay.
You will perform this excerpt from your screenplay in class, or show us a film in which you
act. Other students may help you fill the roles in your excerpt. Use props, simple puppets,
and scenery as you wish. Put feeling into your acting to make your performance interesting.
You don’t have to memorize your lines. If your film won’t play due to technical difficulties,
you must perform your screenplay excerpt live on the same day.
If you wish, you may complete this assignment in a group of up to three students; if you are
a group of three, both sections of your project need to be three times as long as that
required of an individual.
Course Projects
Oral Report and Discussion Leading
Your oral report and discussion leading session should last about 15 minutes, with at least
eight minutes devoted to the report, and three to discussion. If you go overtime, I may need
to cut you off, if we have a lot to cover that day. I would be happy to help you develop your
report (or paper) if you come to my office hours, email me, or phone me during office
hours.
Both the content of your report and its manner of presentation count. Don’t spend more
than two or three minutes summarizing plot, or you will bore the audience. Instead, focus
upon the themes, motifs, symbols and characters within the work, then compare it to
others you have read. Try to speak, not read, keeping eye contact with your fellow students
as well as with me. Using the board, overhead PowerPoint, or other visual aid can be
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helpful to your audience. If you wish to use a smart classroom computer for a PowerPoint
presentation, let me know in advance.
The two or three discussion questions that you bring may deviate from your report’s focus
as you raise other issues in the assigned reading. Your questions don’t have to cover all of
the assigned reading, however--just what interests you.
If your oral report is not given on its assigned date, its grade will be lowered by one letter,
unless you have made arrangements with me to change the date before the scheduled date
arrives. The grading penalty may be waived if a documented, third-party excuse is provided
promptly.
Course Writing Assignments
Essay
Your essay should make an argument about a central theme in one or more of the assigned
texts, but not your oral report book. Your thesis (main idea stated in a sentence at the end
of your first paragraph) should be supported by sub-points that are proven through quotes,
paraphrase, comparison/contrast, and other literary techniques. Three scholarly sources,
such as scholarly library books or library database essays from MLA or LION, are required
to enrich your essay’s frame of reference. (You may also use popular sources like Wikipedia
or Sparknotes, if you wish, but these do not count as part of the three required scholarly
sources.) Write to me as an informed reader; don’t include the plot summary you would
use for a general audience.
Your essay should be typed double-spaced using MLA format, including a Works Cited list.
You must participate in the peer review, or the grade of your essay will be lowered by one
letter. Peer reviews will teach you to be better critics of your own writing, as well as
preventing procrastination and promoting revision. You can also get help with your essay
for free at the Learning Center at the rear of the library.
Final Exam, Informal Writings, and Participation
The Final Exam will primarily be composed of open-book (no notes) essay questions over
books you did not cover in your paper or oral report.
Informal writings will be done in response to my instructions both out of class and in class.
Informal writings cannot be made up (even if you are ill) as they are meant to encourage
you to come to class regularly, on time, and well-prepared. You can get points for an
informal writing only if you attend the class session at which it is due.
The participation component of your grade will be measured through a combination of
your attendance, willingness to speak during discussion, courtesy, and thoughtful
completion of informal writings.
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Course Policies
Late Work
Late essays will be accepted up to one week past the due date, with their grades lowered by
one letter, unless the lateness results from a documented, third-party excused absence.
Missing class is no excuse for not turning in an essay on time (at the start of the class
period); begin your paper well in advance and then have a friend deliver it if an emergency
arises. Since I cannot always read the papers that you email to me, turning in a paper via
email does not count as making the due date.
A makeup Final Exam must be approved before the date of the test.
Exchange phone numbers/ email addresses with a fellow student so that if you must miss
class, you can review his/her notes and discuss what you missed.
Plagiarism and Cheating
Plagiarizing or cheating can result in your being suspended or expelled from SDSU. I will
punish such a misdeed with the maximum penalty I can give, which is failing this course.
Students sometimes plagiarize papers from the Internet, but professors use search engines
to uncover such thefts.
Be sure to document all sources for your essay using MLA style to avoid a charge of
plagiarism. (An MLA guide is in the reference section of the library, and there are excerpts
from the MLA guide inside the PAC, the library’s computerized catalog.) You should
document all quotes, paraphrases, ideas and information.
If stress tempts you to cheat, talk to me so I can suggest constructive methods for handling
academic pressures. If you are protecting a friend who cheats, remember that you may be
encouraging a perilous addiction: studies show that college students who cheat often
continue cheating or embezzling in the workplace, resulting in a ruined career, stiff fines, or
even imprisonment.
Classroom Etiquette
Courtesy is essential to foster a classroom environment in which all of us can learn and feel
comfortable. Consideration for others is an important skill for parents, teachers, and other
professionals to master.
Please turn off all electronic devices before class begins. No texting is allowed. Each time
your phone, pager etc. beeps during class, your Participation grade (20% of the course
grade) will go down by one increment; if such a noise occurs during an exam or oral report,
your Participation grade will go down by one letter.
Do not turn on your personal computer during class, unless you are using it to present your
oral report or creative performance, or you will lose Participation points from your course
grade.
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Students with Disabilities
(Include a statement for students with disabilities; the sample text below is from SDSU
Student Disability Services.)
Students who need accommodation of their disabilities should contact me privately, to
discuss specific accommodations for which they have received authorization. If you need
accommodation due to a disability, but have not registered with Norma Aguilar at Student
Disability Services , please do so before making an appointment to see me.
Oral Report Schedule:
1/28 Gregory’s “The Rising of the Moon” and “Pot of Broth” in MID
2/4 J.M. Synge’s Playboy of the Western World in MID
Brendan Behan’s “The Quare Fellow”
2/11 James Stephens’ Crock of Gold
James Joyce’s Dubliners
2/18 Elizabeth Bowen’s The Last September
Casey and Casey, ed. Short Stories by Irish Women (anthology)
3/4 George Bernard Shaw’s St. Joan
William Trevor’s Fools of Fortune
3/11 Flann O’Brien’s The Poor Mouth
Kate O’Brien’s The Land of Spices
3/18 Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes
Mary Lavin’s In a Café and Other Stories
4/8 Patrick Kavanagh’s The Green Fool
Brian Moore’s The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
4/15 Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scriptures
Clare Boylan’s Black Baby
4/22 Edna O’Brien’s The House of Splendid Isolation
Eilis Ni Duibhne’s The Dancers Dancing
4/29 John Banville’s The Sea
Maeve Brennan’s The Springs of Affection
5/13 Emma Donoghue’s Room
J.G. Farrell’s Troubles
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John McGahern’s The Lake
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