English
352: Modern Irish Literature
“Ulysses and the Contemporary Irish
Novel”
Autumn 2006
Professor Marc C. Conner
Payne 32B, x8924, connerm@wlu.edu
office hours: M, Tu, W, Th 1-2:45, and by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION: James Joyce’s epic achievement of 1922, Ulysses, is almost certainly the
greatest and most influential literary work of the 20th
century. It stands as the definitive
work of Modernism, and arguably the foundational work of post-Modernism—the various
movements and authors who write, inevitably, in the wake of both Modernism and
of Joyce (indeed, these two concepts can be separated only with
difficulty). Ulysses can be fruitfully studied from a variety of perspectives
and contexts, including that of Modernism as a European-wide movement, and the
more “parochial” (to use Kavanagh’s term) perspective of Irish literature,
particularly the “Irish Revival” that corresponded almost exactly with Joyce’s
own lifetime. Indeed, Joyce himself
delighted in both the “macrocosm” and the “microcosm” that such twinned
perspectives imply. In this course, we
will engage Joyce’s epic on its own terms as well as on the larger cultural and
historical terms of its arising; and we also will study the ways in which three
major contemporary Irish novelists write their works in the era after
Joyce. These novelists—John McGahern,
Edna O’Brien, and Jamie O’Neill—stand on their own as extraordinary artists of
the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries; but they also invite
comparison with Joyce, a predecessor by whom they are clearly influenced,
although in complex and elusive ways. By
putting these figures into conversation with one another, we seek a greater
understanding of the Irish novel throughout the past century and into the
present.
COURSE
STRUCTURE: We begin by reading Joyce’s
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
(the crucial prelude to Ulysses), and
then we work through all of Ulysses
with great care. We then turn to the
contemporary novelists, spending two weeks on one novel by each writer. Writing assignments include a short paper on Ulysses; a take-home exam on Ulysses; and a longer comparative essay
on one of the contemporary novelists and Ulysses. Grades will be determined as follows: 20% for the first essay; 25% for the
mid-term; 35% for the longer essay; and 20% for class participation. Class attendance is absolutely required: each unexcused absence after 1 will lower a
final grade by ½ (3 tardies = 1 absence).
Attendance at the two evening lectures is also required. Assignments turned in late will suffer
alarming penalties.
TEXTS: Joyce, A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin) and Ulysses (Vintage); Blamires, The
New Bloomsday Book (Routledge, 3rd ed.); Gifford, Ulysses Annotated (California);
O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys (Scribner);
McGahern, Amongst Women (Penguin)
(all available at W&L bookstore). O’Brien, The Light of Evening (Houghton Mifflin) (must be pre-ordered
through Amazon.com—release date October 6 2006). Also students will read Conner, Introducing Irish History: A Web Text at http://ireland.wlu.edu. (This web site contains many other course
resources.)
COURSE SCHEDULE
F
9.7 Introduction to James Joyce;
opening pages of Portrait
M
9.11 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, pp. 3- 108
W
9.13 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, pp. 109-187
F
9.15 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, pp. 188-276
M
9.18 Introducing Ulysses:
Episode 1, “Telemachus”
Have Introducing Irish History completed, including the 4 reading
quizzes
W
9.20 Ulysses: Episodes 2 & 3,
“Nestor” and “Proteus”
F
9.22 Ulysses: Episodes 4 & 5,
“Calypso” and “Lotuseaters”
M
9.25 Ulysses: Episodes 6 & 7,
“Hades” and “Aeolus”
W
9.27 Ulysses: Episodes 8 & 9,
“Lestrygonians” & “Scylla and Charybdis”
F
9.29 Ulysses: Episode 10,
“Wandering Rocks” (class led by Prof. Keen)
M
10.2 no class – reading day
W
10.4 Ulysses: Episodes 11 &
12, “Sirens” and “Cyclops”
First essay (5 pages) on the
first six episodes of Ulysses, due
Wednesday 10/4
F
10.6 Ulysses: Episode 13,
“Nausicaa”
M
10.9 Ulysses: Episode 14, “Oxen
of the Sun”
W
10.11 Ulysses: Episode 15, “Circe”
F
10.13 Reading Days: no class
M
10.16 Ulysses: Episodes 16 and 17,
“Eumaeus” and “Ithica”
W
10.18 Ulysses: Episode 18,
“Penelope”
Coilin
Owens, Professor of English,
F
10.20 Professor Coilin Owens leads
class
M
10.23 Jamie O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys, pp. 3-109
Take-home exam, on Ulysses, due Monday, October 23rd
W
10.25 At Swim, Two Boys, pp. 110-182
F
10.27 At Swim, Two Boys, pp. 183-292
M
10.30 At Swim, Two Boys, pp. 295-436
W
11.1 At Swim, Two Boys, pp. 437-523
F
11.3 At Swim, Two Boys, pp. 524-562
M
11.6 Jamie O’Neill visits class
(begin McGahern, Amongst Women)
Jamie
O’Neill reads from his work, Tuesday November 7, 7:30 p.m., Commons Theater
(reception and book-signing to follow)
W
11.8 McGahern, Amongst Women
F
11.10 Amongst Women
M
11.13 Amongst Women
W
11.15 Amongst Women
F
11.17 Amongst Women
November 20-24: Thanksgiving Break, no classes
M
11.27 Edna O’Brien, The Light of Evening
W
11.29 The Light of Evening
F
12.1 The Light of Evening
M
12.4 The Light of Evening
W
12.6 The Light of Evening
F
12.8 The Light of Evening
Final
paper (10-15 pages), a comparative study of either O’Neill, McGahern, or
O’Brien and Joyce, due on Friday, December 8, at the start of class.