Irish Literature

Catalog description

This course aims to give learners a clear sense of the key ideas, themes, and questions that have prevailed in Irish literature from mid-twentieth century to the present, and to explore the established trends within Irish criticism regarding the production of modern Irish culture. It will cover themes and issues such as: language and nation; the role of men and women in Irish society and the politics of gender and sexuality; the representation of family and childhood in Ireland; the role of the Catholic Church in Irish life; literary production and censorship. A further aim is to explore how writers working in different genre have engaged with Irish society and how the forms of publication and contemporary response have influenced how writers’ work has been produced and understood.