ENGL 20517 - All that you can't leave behind: Exile in the Irish Literary Imagination

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

This course will explore the centrality of emigration and immigration in the literary production of Irish fiction and drama by both writers in Ireland and abroad. The course will range from the nationalist movements of the early 20th century and their demand for a stop to emigration from Ireland to the early 21st century, which has seen a tremendous influx of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers into Ireland. Special attention will be paid to the homeless Irish woman and the immigrant Irish woman, domestic violence, the concept of emigration as libratory or as exile, the problems of the returnee, and fantasies of gender and ethnic essentialism and of a threatened "authentic" home and nation. The course will be reading-intensive, and will emphasize close reading skills, cultural analysis and historical contexts for each text. Students will write weekly short papers (3 pages) that perform literary analysis and incorporate historical readings and/or literary theory from library reserves. Course texts will include W. B. Yeats's and Lady Gregrory's Cathleen ni Houlihan, Joyce's Dubliners, Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come, Maeve Brennan's The Rose Garden, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Edna O'Brien's Down by the River, Marina Carr's By the Bog of Cats and Roddy Doyle's The Woman Who Walked into Doors.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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