English 246: Ireland, Land of Beauty, Land of Pain

My Office: 225 Hogue Hall
Office Hours: Every afternoon from 1 - 3
Office Phone: 664-6805
Home Phone: 664-3863
Email: Donna.Hart@greenville.edu
Website: http://www.greenville.edu/faculty/dosthart

Course Description:

As a result of English oppression since the 1100’s, of a series of failed rebellions, of the disastrous Potato Famine of 1845-1850, and of the consequent “diaspora” of Irish people—because of all of these, the Irish language and culture were on the verge of extinction by the late 1800’s. A group of friends from the Anglo-Irish “ascendancy” decided that that would not happen. They set about to save Irish language, myths, folktales, and songs before they were lost forever; and they established Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, which became not only a literary but also a political vehicle for an Irish Renaissance.

This course briefly surveys the literature and history of Ireland from prehistoric times to modern times. It uses this coupling of texts as the underpinning for the student’s greater understanding of political, social, religious, and aesthetic aspects of Ireland’s culture today—the Irish “worldview.” It quickly surveys Ireland’s music, dance, and visual arts from the earliest recorded times to today, with the understanding that the history is the womb in which all these other progeny have been engendered. We will also seek to understand how Ireland’s multi-century conflict between Catholic and Protestant, Irish and English, oppressed and oppressor have helped shape that literature and art. We will read as much and talk as much as we can about the literature and history, so that, when we travel to Ireland, we will better understand what we’re seeing, and we will know better what kinds of questions to ask of the Irish people we meet.

**This course fulfills a cross-cultural requirement.

Required Texts:

Cahill, Thomas. How the Irish Saved Civilization. New York: Anchor, 1996. (ISBN: 0-385-41849-3)

Harrington, John. Modern Irish Drama. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1991. (ISBN: 0-393-96063-3)

Joyce, James. The Portable James Joyce. New York: Penguin Books, 1994. (ISBN: 0140150307)

McCabe, Patrick. The Butcher Boy. New York: Dell/Cutting Edge Publishers, 1994. (ISBN: 0-385-31237-7)

Murphy, Maureen O’Rourke, and James MacKillop, Eds. Irish Literature: A Reader. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996. (ISBN: 0-815-62405-0)

O’Brien, Edna. The House of Splendid Isolation. New York: Penguin USA, 1994. (ISBN: 0-452-27452-4)

Tentative Schedule

Monday, January 3

Introduction to class. Introductory lecture on Irish history.
Irish literature, themes, symbols, etc.—8th century to the Revolution.

Movie in evening: Studio A.

Tuesday, January 4

James Joyce, The Dubliners, et.al.

Movie in evening: Studio A.

Wednesday, January 5

Augusta Gregory, William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, Brian Friel, etc.--Irish Drama.

Movie in evening: Studio A.

Thursday, January 6

Patrick McCabe, The Butcher Boy.

Movie in evening: Studio A.

Friday, January 7

Edna O’Brien, House of Splendid Isolation.

Movie in evening: Studio A.

Monday, January 10 – Saturday, January 22

TRAVELING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OF IRELAND!! See Ireland Itinerary here.