120043 AR Literature Course (interactive) = Literature 1/2 (MA) British/Irish/New English (2010W)

Contents: The course will introduce students to a wide range of fictional texts written by contemporary Irish authors dealing with various aspects of Irish life, history, society, religion, myth and the cultural heritage. The novels and short stories selected focus on such diverse themes as love, marriage and divorce, death, religious conflict, Catholicism, emigration, the belief in fairies and the recent changes in family life and rural existence. The narratives discussed thus provide a wide variety of aspects of what can be seen as integral parts of "Irish national identity". The texts may be read as "realistic fictional constructions" or "auto-images" of "Irishness". Some narratives were written for mere entertainment ("chick-lit"; popular fiction), whereas others have clearly not been intended for a mass audience: narratives of high literary quality acclaimed by both literary scholars and an erudite readership. By applying imagological theory and insights derived from non-philological disciplines (including history, anthropology and sociology) various features "Irishness" will be explored in some detail. The works of fiction selected for discussion include novels of rare artistic quality such as John Banville's "The Sea" (Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2005) and short stories by distinguished authors like William Trevor, Colm Toibin, Sebastian Barry and aspiring female writers like Clare Keegan, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne and Sarah Webb as well as a few writers of popular fiction including Cecelia Ahern, Maeve Binchy, Marian Keyes and Joan O'Neill.