ENGL 40243 - Great Irish Writers

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

This course will look at masterworks originally written in Ireland's first language, the oldest vernacular literature of northern Europe. We'll look at the stories from the Ulster Cycle, including the most famous love story in Irish (a.k.a. "Deirdre of the Sorrows"), tales of kings acting badly, heroes astounding others before the age of 10, and the great Irish epic the Táin Bó Cúailnge ("The Cattle Raid of Cooley"), which tells a rollicking good story (body-morphing battle frenzy! treachery! jokes! boasting! tricolored hair!) while tackling confounding social and political concerns (such as the dangers of chaos, jealousy, arrogance, and what you do with a bunch of overheated, underemployed young men). We'll next look at the poetic tradition in Irish between approximately 1540 and 1800, an era when England, later Britain, consolidates its conquest and colonization of the country. In this context, writers craftily defend Irish culture, manhood and authority while recalibrating Irish identity, sometimes in deadly earnest, sometimes by making fun of what they cannot necessarily change. All materials will be read in English translation.

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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