123251 AR Literature Course - 1/2 (MA) British/Irish/New English & Cultural Studies (2022W)

NB
This course is scheduled to take place on site, as long as the public health situation permits. All scholarly articles will be made available on Moodle.

In 2012, the Irish government announced the "decade of centenaries" to celebrate the 100th anniversaries of several important events, among them the Home Rule Bill, the 1916 Rising, the Gallipoli landings, the Somme offensive, the suffrage movement and the first sitting of the Dáil (for more details see https://www.decadeofcentenaries.com/about/). Several colleagues at our department are contributing to these celebrations by offering courses on Irish Literature and Culture this winter term. As all ARs, this course, which focuses on Contemporary Irish Literature, will be fairly intense, as far as the reading is concerned. So please take a close look at the material chosen and plan carefully, so you don't overburden your term. In this class we will be discussing 21st century fiction - published between 2006 and 2021 - from male and female Irish and Northern Irish authors. Along the axes of gender, class, wealth, religion and sexuality, we are going to analyse texts that deal with the Irish diaspora, with the Troubles, with eccentricity, with personal and collective challenges, (queer and straight) love, death, temptation, despair, hope, as well as the art and (Irish) tradition of story-telling. Specifically, we are going to discuss three novels: Niall Williams's History of the Rain (which was longlisted for the Booker), Colm Toíbín, Brooklyn (which won the Costa Award) and Anna Burns's Milkman (which won the Booker). In order to give you enough time to get through the reading of these long texts, we are also going to be analysing seven short stories - by Roddy Doyle, Colm Toíbín, Nuala O'Connor, Emma Donoghue, James Hudson, and Kevin Barry - in the weeks between. The theory backdrop will be provided by gender studies, queer theory, psychoanalysis - yes, despite this being Irish literature - and eco criticism.

The 'specialist'-task (which every student in class undertakes once) is supposed to provide the basis and impulses for the group work (in which every student in class participates on a weekly basis). You'll be expected to provide a powerpoint presentation as an accompaniment to your specialist task.

One week before the lesson in which it is your turn to act as specialist, I will meet with you online, discuss your ideas with you, make additional suggestions and help you structure your plan. Immediately after your specialist lesson, you, next week's specialist and I will get together for an immediate reflexion (triple feedback loop), which takes into consideration your own estimate of your performance, peer-feedback and feedback from me.