Reading and Writing in Place: Ireland
English 316: Advanced Composition / Writing about the
Social Sciences
Marguerite Helmers, instructor
Department of English, Radford 226
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
helmers@uwosh.edu
Tour Dates: May 15-26, 2011
These courses of the literary study tour Reading and Writing in Place combine an
introduction to Irish literature, culture, history, and politics. Students enrolled in the
courses will explore the ways that literary works respond to powerful landscapes and
significant political events of their time. In turn, the students who travel to Ireland will
keep a substantial journal of writing and field research that explores literature, place, and
personal response.
Objectives
o Examine contemporary Irish culture by doing fieldwork.
o Demonstrate a critical understanding of one social theme or concern.
o Develop personal connections to Irish literature, writers, culture, and places.
Performance & Attendance
You are expected to attend every session of the tour, including all site visits and group
workshops. You should be prepared to share journal entries at each workshop.
Required Readings
These required readings should be completed prior to the tour departure date. Plan to
bring print-outs of poems on the tour and your copy of Dubliners.
Written Assignments & Grading Distribution
1. Dubliners, James Joyce
2. Meeting the Other Crowd, Eddie
Lenihan
3. Round Ireland with a Fridge
4. Barnacle Soup
5. Selected traditional ballads
60%
Journal. Your major assignment is to create an extensive journal that includes
writing, sketching, photography, and found objects. Plan to carry your journal
with you daily in Ireland and add to it regularly on the tour. The journal will
records personal experiences, historical information, and reflections, questions,
and annotations on the readings. Some journal entries will be assigned; they will
be critical, creative, and reflective.
20%
Individual Inquiry. Emerging from your reading, site visits, and journaling, you
will demonstrate a critical understanding of a cultural theme or issue. A final
essay of 1500 words that synthesizes your research, observations, and reflections
of will be due no later than June 1.
20%
Presentations & Workshops. You will participate in writing and literary
discussion workshops at historical sites, sharing your writing, literary reflections,
and accumulated historical knowledge.
Supplementary Selected Bibliography: Recommended Reading
Literary Works
Banville, John. The Book of Evidence.
Banville, John. Blackwater Lightship.
Barry, Sebastian. A Long Way.
Barry, Sebastian. The Secret Scripture.
Bourke, Angela. The Burning of Bridget Cleary
Bowen, Elizabeth. The Last September.
Dean, John. The Heather Fields and Other Stories.
Doyle, Roddy. The Commitments.
Doyle, Roddy. The Deportees.
Frawley, Oona. New Dubliners.
Friel, Brian. Translations.
Hawks, Tony. Round Ireland with a Fridge.
Joyce, James. Ulysses.
McCourt, Frank. Angela’s Ashes.
McDonagh, Martin. The Beauty Queen of Leenane.
O’Casey, Sean. The Silver Tassie.
Solnit, Rebecca. A Book of Migrations.
Synge, J. M. The Playboy of the Western World.
Trevor, William, The Collected Stories.
Trevor, William. The Story of Lucy Gault.
Fairy Tales
Kirk, Robert. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies.
Lenihan, Eddie. Meeting the Other Crowd.
Maccoitir, Niall. Irish Trees: Myths, Legends, and Folklore
Yeats, W. B. The Celtic Twilight.
Films
Angela’s Ashes
Michael Collins.
Ondine
The Secret of Kells.
The Secret of Roan Inish.
The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
Historical Works
Cronin, Mike. A History of Ireland.
Moody, T. W. The Course of Irish History, 4th Edition
O’Brien, Conor Cruise. Ancestral Voices: Religion and Nationalism in Ireland.
Scally, Robert. The End of Hidden Ireland: Rebellion, Famine, and Emigration.