Irish short fiction
Paul Delaney
This two-semester course traces the practice and development of the short
story in Ireland, from the early twentieth century through to the present. The
course includes introductory sessions on contexts and theories, and also
attends to nineteenth-century practitioners of the short-story form. The
theories outlined will be used to inflect our readings of the writers and stories,
and other theories (comparative and Irish-based) will be introduced as the
course develops.
The course begins with two key early twentieth-century collections, George
Moore’s The Untilled Field and James Joyce’s Dubliners. From there, it
provides an extensive engagement with a range of writers, some well-known
and others less canonical. Writers to be covered include Seamus O’Kelly,
Patrick Pearse, Daniel Corkery, Liam O’Flaherty, Frank O’Connor, Seán
O’Faoláin, Samuel Beckett, Elizabeth Bowen, Mary Lavin, Maeve Brennan,
John McGahern, and William Trevor. We will also explore the work of a
selection of contemporary short-fiction writers, including Éilís Ní Dhuibhne,
Eugene McCabe, Kevin Barry, Colm Tóibín, Philip Ó Ceallaigh and Claire
Keegan.
Some of the texts on the course are out of print, so these readings will be
scanned and circulated in class. Supplementary material will also be
available on Blackboard. Two edited collections, however, should provide
basic introductory material for the course – William Trevor’s The Oxford Book
of Irish Short Stories and Anne Enright’s The Granta Book of the Irish Short
Story – and students are encouraged to read these over the summer.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

Trace the development of modern short fiction in Ireland, from the
Literary Revival through to the present.

Distinguish between principal practitioners of the genre, and also
identify less canonical writers who experimented with this form.

Locate writers and texts in their historical, cultural and literary contexts.

Utilize a range of interpretive strategies (comparative and Irish-based)
to engage in a close reading of a selection of texts.

Employ an informed and well-developed critical/theoretical vocabulary
to reflect on the texts and related subjects.

Apply this knowledge to other Sophister modules in English, as well as
to postgraduate studies of short fiction and twentieth-century Irish
literature.