Sumários

Introduction: syllabus; information on course plan and assessment; brief introduction to Irish history.

16 Setembro 2024, 15:30 • Maria Teresa Correia Casal

Syllabus:


Academic year 2024-2025

1.              Subject | Code

Irish Literature and Culture | LAC2.12422

2.              Cycle of studies

            Semester

1

1

3.       Lecturer | Contact

Teresa Casal - mcasal@edu.ulisboa.pt

4.              Aims

This curricular unit aims to: 1) offer an introduction to Irish history, culture, and literature; 2) introduce the ongoing identity debates within Irish Studies, as they reflect the close interaction between political developments and cultural manifestations in Irish history; and 3) foster students’ informed ability to think critically about literary texts within their respective historical framework, while providing an insight into Ireland’s rich cultural and literary heritage, and to the ethical and aesthetic dialogues that shape it.

Literary works under study include:

·         Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal” (1729)

·         W.B. Yeats and Augusta Gregory, Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902)

·         W.B. Yeats: Selected Poems

·         James Joyce, “Eveline” and “The Dead”, in Dubliners (1914)

·         Seamus Heaney: Selected Poems

·         Eavan Boland: Selected Poems

·         Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These, 2021

·         Selected contemporary short stories / personal essays

 

5.       Assessment

The methodologies used aim to facilitate students’ knowledge acquisition while fostering the development of critical skills that may contribute to an informed citizenship. The teaching of historical and cultural contents is accompanied by the analysis of texts and other materials (e.g. documentaries, films); the approach to literary texts and to how they address their respective contexts seeks to develop students’ ability to engage imaginatively with them, to appreciate the aesthetic options that shape them and how they affect the reading experience, and to think critically and in an informed manner about the issues they raise.

Continuous assessment consists in: written test 1: 40%; written test 2: 40%; class participation (including short oral presentation on a given topic): 20%.

6.       Selected Bibliography

Boland,E. (2005). New Collected Poems. Carcanet.

Cleary, J. & Connolly, C. (Eds.) (2005). The Cambridge Companion to Modern Irish Culture. Cambridge: CUP.

Gibney, J. (2017). A Short History of Ireland, 1500-2000. Yale and London: Yale UP.

Gleeson, S. (Ed.) (2020). The Art of the Glimpse: 100 Irish Short Stories, London: Head of Zeus.

Heaney, S. (2015). New Selected Poems 1988-2013. Faber.

Joyce, J. (1992). Dubliners. Introduction by Terence Brown. Penguin.

Keegan, C. (2021). Small Things Like These, Faber.

Kelleher, M. & O’Leary, P. (Eds.) (2006). The Cambridge History of Irish Literature. 2 vols. Cambridge: CUP.

Regan, S. (Ed.) (2008). Irish Writing: An Anthology of Irish Literature in English 1789-1939. Oxford: OUP.

YEATS, W.B. (2008). The Major Works including Poems, Plays, and critical Prose. Ed. Edward Larrissy. OUP.

7.              Office hours

Monday, 14h30-15h30 (or alternative times; always subject to prior appointment).

8.              Requirements

Fluency in English. English B2.2.

 

IRISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE

COURSE PLAN 2024-2025

Timetable | Classroom: Monday,15h30-17h00, Room C137 & Wednesday, 15h30, 17h00, Room C136.A

Lecturer: Teresa Casal (mcasal@edu.ulisboa.pt)

Office hours: Monday, 14h30-15h30 (subject to prior appointment)

Lesson

No.

Date

Contents

 

1

16 Sept.

Introduction: Syllabus; introduction to Irish history and culture using contemporary materials.

 

2

18 Sept.

Overview of Irish history: screening of A Short History of Ireland, documentary based on the eponymous work by Richard Killeen.

3

23 Sept.

“Where Historians Disagree”: John Gibney, A Short History of Ireland, 1500-2000, 2017.

Anglo-Irish relations: geo-political and religious contexts:

1.1. Early representations of Ireland by British visitors (12th-17th centuries): Giraldus Cambrensis, The Topography of Ireland, 1187; The Conquest of Ireland, 1189; Edmund Spenser, A View of the Present State of Ireland, 1663;

1.2. Protestant Reformation and its impact on Anglo-Irish relations;

1.3. The Great Famine (1845-1849);

1.4. Representations of the Irish: Punch cartoons and the dehumanisation of colonised populations.

4

 

25 Sept.

1. Relations between Ireland and England (17th-18th cent.):

Jonathan Swift, "A Modest Proposal", 1729.

_

30 Sept.

Opening ceremony of the academic year.

5

2 Oct.

Irish Literary Revival and identity debates (19th-20th cent.):

1.1. Douglas Hyde, "The Necessity for De-anglicising Ireland" (1892): cultural nationalism and independence.

1.2. W.B. Yeats e Lady Gregory, Cathleen Ni Houlihan, 1902.

6

7 Oct.

1. The path to Independence and Partition (1922):

1.1. Home Rule; Ulster Covenant; Easter Rising 1916 and the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.

1.2. 1916-2022: Easter Rising; the Great War; War of Independence and Civil War; Independence and Partition.

7

9 Oct.

W.B. Yeats, Poems.

Oral presentations on selected poems.

8

14 Oct.

W.B. Yeats, Poems.

Further reading and reflection on selected poems.

9

16 Oct.

James Joyce, “Eveline”, Dubliners, 1914.

Introduction on Dubliners. Oral presentations on “Eveline”.

10

21 Oct.

James Joyce, “Eveline”, Dubliners, 1914.

Further reading and reflection.

11

23 Oct.

James Joyce, “The Dead”, Dubliners, 1914.

Oral presentations on “The Dead”.

12

28 Oct.

James Joyce, “The Dead”, Dubliners, 1914.

Further reading and reflection on “The Dead”.

Lesson

No.

Date

Contents

13

30 Oct.

Revisiting the Easter Rising: Mary O’Donnell, “The Unchosen”, Empire, 2018, pp. 99-107.

14

4 Nov.

EMBASSY OF IRELAND LECTURE: Mary O’Donnell (tbc)

15

6 Nov.

FIRST WRITTEN TEST.

16

11 Nov.

Post-independence Ireland and Northern Ireland: overview.

1.       Republic of Ireland: state, church, gender, emigration/immigration.

Cf. personal essay: Emilie Pine, “Speaking / Not Speaking”, Notes to Self: Essays, Dublin: Tramp Press, 2018, pp. 79-95.

17

13 Nov.

Post-independence Ireland and Northern Ireland: overview.

2.       Northern Ireland: Troubles and post-1998 Good Friday Belfast Agreement.

Cf. personal essays: Lyra McKee, The Lost Boys (extracts); ‘Suicide of the Ceasefire Babies’, Lost, Found, Remembered: In Her Own Words, 2021, pp. 11-57; 65-80.

18

18 Nov.

Seamus Heaney: Poems

Introduction. Presentations on selected poems.

19

20 Nov.

Seamus Heaney: Poems

Further reading and reflection on selected poems.

20

25 Nov.

Eavan Boland: Poems and Essays

Introduction and Presentations on selected poems.

21

 

27 Nov.

Eavan Boland: Poems and Essays

Further reading and reflection on selected poems.

22

2 Dec.

Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These, 2021.

Historical background. Presentations on The Magdalen Sisters.

23

4 Dec.

Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These, 2021.

Presentations on Small Things Like These.

24

9 Dec.

Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These, 2021.

Further reading and reflection.

25

11 Dec.

Presentations on short stories: 21st century Ireland and beyond (1):

Anne Enright, “Three Stories About Love”, The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers, ed. Sinéad Gleeson, New Island Books, 2015, pp. 166-176;

26

16 Dec.

Presentations on short stories: 21st century Ireland and beyond (2):

Lucy Caldwell, “Unter den Linden”, Openings: Thirteen Stories, Faber & Faber, 2024, pp. 133-141.

Taking stock.

27

18 Dec.

Second WRITTEN TEST.

28

6 Jan.

SECOND CALL OF TEST 2 (for students who, for duly justified reasons, cannot write it on the scheduled date.)

29

8 Jan.

Final assessment.

Obs.: Adjustments to the plan may need to be made in the course of the semester.

* The items indicated in bold refer to topics for presentations. For more information, please check “Guidelines, Deadlines and Topics for presentations”.

 

Irish Literature and Culture (2024-2025, S1)

Guidelines, Deadlines, and Topics for Presentations

1. Guidelines

The aim is to engage critically and creatively with the text and therefore present an informed and thoughtful discussion thereof.

Presentations should be made in pairs (10 minutes: ca. 1200 words) or in groups of 3 people (15 minutes: ca. 1800 words). Please make sure you stick to the allotted time.

Preparation of your presentation should include: i) attentive reading; ii) research about the text; iii) informed personal reflection about the text.

Oral presentations are assessed on the basis of: the research they involve; the engagement with the chosen materials and their respective contexts; the ability to think in an informed and insightful manner about them. Communication skills obviously help in the presentation and in the discussion. However, students are not penalized if they have not (yet) honed such skills; this is an opportunity to practice them and gain (additional) confidence.

i) While reading:

  1. Consider i) why you chose that topic / text: what is it that drew you to it? i) Which question(s) do you want to address in your presentation?
  2. Notice the genre of the text that you are reading: is it a poem, a play, a novel or short story, or an essay? Is it realistic, satirical or fantasy? This has implications for how you read a text.
  3. Notice how you feel while reading the text: are you attracted to it? Are you upset by it? Can you figure out why? Discuss it with your partner(s) and try to understand what prompts your respective reactions: is it the topic of the story that is upsetting/intriguing/fascinating? Is it the way the topic is presented that is enticing or induces resistance or rejection? Take notice of your emotional/intuitive response, try to understand what prompts it, and don’t rush to ‘interpret’ the text; your interpretation will be richer if you use all your skills in the process (intuition, research, analysis, reflection).

ii) While researching:

  1. Find out basic contextual and critical information; this includes information about the author and their work; the time of publication and/or the period in which the story is set; critical reception (if available); the topic addressed; historical /cultural references.
  2. When working in a group, compare your individual responses to your partner’s/partners’. Use your personal reflections and the contextual and critical information obtained in your research to decide on your research/guiding question(s).

iii) While preparing the presentation:

  1. Identify your topic of research and guiding question(s).
  2. Explain how you addressed it and what you found in the process: do not merely repeat what others have said, but bring in your own perspective. N.B.: When quoting others, make sure you identify the source. E.g. Smith argues that… (Smith date: page number).
  3. Try not only to merely talk about the text, but allow the class to experience it by bringing it to their attention. In the case of poems, make sure they are first read or listened to together; in the case of essays or prose fiction, select the excerpts that you consider relevant to your discussion of the work.

 

 

2. DEADLINES

Inform the lecturer of your chosen topic and group

By 2 October

Contact: mcasal@edu.ulisboa.pt

Send outline/draft of your presentation for feedback

By one week before the date of your presentation.

Send final version of your PPT and/or outline of your presentation (bibliography included)

By one week after your presentation.

3. Topics

The tips under each topic are merely indicative and you may go beyond them. Please list the bibliographic and online sources used in the PPT accompanying your presentation.

1.       W.B. Yeats: Poems

a.        In this course book you find a selection of early, middle and late poems by Yeats. Choose a poem to discuss in your presentation.

Suggestions for further reading (available in the library):

Yeats, W. B. (1990). Collected Poems.

Howes, Marjorie and John Kelly, eds. (2006). The Cambridge Companion to W. B. Yeats.

Foster, R.F. (1998; 2005). W.B. Yeats: A Life, 2 vols.

--- (2014). Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland 1890-1923.

Davie, Donald (2004). Modernist Essays: Yeats, Pound and Eliot.

Ramazani, Jahan (1990). Yeats & the Poetry of Death: Elegy, Self-elegy, and the Sublime.

2.       James Joyce, “Eveline”, in Dubliners, 1914.

a.        Text: Consider narrative voice and point of view; characters and plot; marriage: how does Eveline’s parents’ reality compare with Eveline’s expectations about life with Frank?

b.       Discussion: What is it that intrigues/interests you the most in this story? Pursue it in your presentation. For brainstorming: consider whether/how “paralysis” affects Eveline and other characters. Is there any relation between paralysis and gender? Could Eveline’s predicament resonate with twenty-first readers?

Suggestions for further reading:

Joyce, James (1992; 2000). Dubliners. Introduction and Notes by Terence Brown. Penguin.

--- (1994). The Dead: Complete, Authoritative text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Daniel R. Schwarz (ed.).

--- (1988). Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: A Casebook, Morris Beja (ed.) London: Macmillan.

Attridge, Derek, ed. (1997) The Cambridge Companion to James Joyce.

--- (2000). Joyce Effects on Language, Theory, and History.

Henke, Suzette A. (1990). ‘Through a Cracked Looking-Glass: Desire and Frustration in Dubliners’. James Joyce and the Politics of Desire. 12-49.

Balzano, Wanda (2004). ‘“Eveline’, or the Veils of Cleaning”, Oona Frawley, ed., A New & Complex Sensation: Essays on Joyce’s Dubliners. 81-93.

 

3.       James Joyce, “The Dead”, in Dubliners (1914)

a.        Text: Consider the story’s title; narrative voice and point of view; characters: diversity in terms of class, gender, education, religious and/or political affiliation; plot: what goes on; what characters talk about; ending;

b.       Discussion: What is it that intrigues/interests you the most in this story? Pursue it in your presentation. For brainstorming: consider motifs running through the story: life/death; heroism/everyday life; love/violence; marriage/passion; music/militarism; Gabriel Conroy’s Ireland/ Molly Ivors’s Ireland; story’s ending.

Suggestions for further reading:

Joyce, James (1992; 2000). Dubliners. Introduction and Notes by Terence Brown. Penguin.

--- (1994). The Dead: Complete, Authoritative text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Daniel R. Schwarz (ed.).

--- (1988). Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: A Casebook, Morris Beja (ed.) London: Macmillan.

Attridge, Derek, ed. (1997) The Cambridge Companion to James Joyce.

--- (2000). Joyce Effects on Language, Theory, and History.

Henke, Suzette A. (1990). ‘Through a Cracked Looking-Glass: Desire and Frustration in Dubliners’. James Joyce and the Politics of Desire. 12-49.

Winston, Greg C. (2004). ‘“Militarism and ‘The Dead’”, Oona Frawley, ed., A New & Complex Sensation: Essays on Joyce’s Dubliners. 122-132.

Casal, Teresa (2018). ‘A Century Apart: Intimacy, Love and Desire from James Joyce to Emma Donoghue’, Diana Villanueva Romero, Carolina P. Amador-Moreno, Manuel Sánchez García (eds.), Voices and Discourse in the Irish Context. Palgrave Macmillan, 235-263.

Film adaptation: Huston, John, dir. (1987). The Dead.

 

4.       Mary O’Donnell, “The Unchosen”, Empire, 2018, pp. 99-107.

    1. Briefly introduce the author and her work;

b.       Text: Consider the setting (place and time): Easter Rising 1916 and execution of rebels in Kilmainham Gaol; narrative voice and perspective; protagonist’s role in, and experience of, these historical events;

c.        Suggestions for discussion: issues of rebellion and heroism, as portrayed in the story; How does the protagonist experience them? How do you as a reader perceive them? Discuss O’Donnell’s twenty-century approach to these events.

Suggestions for further reading:

Kilmainham Gaol Museum – 1910-1924 - https://www.kilmainhamgaolmuseum.ie/1910-1924/

Hegarty, Shane & Fintan O'Toole (2016), “Easter Rising 1916 – the aftermath: arrests and executions”, Irish Times, 24 March - https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/easter-rising-1916-the-aftermath-arrests-and-executions-1.2583019

Jaime de Pablos, Maria Elena (ed.), Giving Shape to the Moment: The Art of Mary O’Donnell, Peter Lang, 2018.

Maher, Eamon (2018), “Empire by Mary O’Donnell: Tales from Ireland’s difficult childhood”, Review of Empire, Irish Times, 6 Oct. - https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/empire-by-mary-o-donnell-tales-from-ireland-s-difficult-childhood-1.3644518

Roman Sotelo, Antía (2022), Irish Identities Revisited in Mary O’Donnell’s “Empire”, Estudios Irlandeses, 17 March - https://www.estudiosirlandeses.org/2022/03/irish-identities-revisited-in-mary-odonnells-empire/

 

5.       Emilie Pine, “Speaking / Not Speaking”, Notes to Self: Essays, Dublin: Tramp Press, 2018, pp. 79-95.

    1. Briefly introduce the author and her work;

b.       Text: Consider how the author/narrator tells her experience and reflects about it; consider what the author tells, but also how she tells it and how that affects your perception as a reader.

c.        Suggestions for discussion: consider the title of the essay: how important is ‘speaking/not speaking’? Does the fact that the essay is autobiographical (rather than fictional) play a role in how you found yourself engaging with it? What is your guiding question when re-reading this essay for purposes of your presentation? Follow it and explore it.

 

Suggestions for further reading:

Contemporary Irish Writing: Books that changed us, University College Dublin - Notes to Self, by Emilie Pine - https://contemporaryirishwriting.ie/books/notes-to-self/

Evans, Martina (2018). ‘Notes to Self: Essays by Emilie Pine – Startling essays on addiction, infertility and rape’. Review of Notes to Self: Essays, by Emilie Pine. The Irish Times, 21 July. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/notes-to-self-essays-by-emilie-pine-startling-essays-on-addiction-infertility-and-rape-1.3566926

Williams, John (2019). ‘I Was Done With All the Silences’: How an Academic Got Personal in ‘Notes to Self’. Interview with Emilie Pine. The New York Times, 30 June. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/30/books/emilie-pine-notes-to-self.html

Mulhall, Anne (2021). ‘Life Writing and Personal Testimony, 1970-Present’, Heather Ingman and Clíona Ó Gallhoir (eds.), A History of Modern Irish Women’s Literature, CUP. 383-409.

Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist, Éilís (2020). ‘Reflections on Memoir as a New Genre’, Irish University Review, Spring/Summer. 153-163. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/iur.2020.0442

6.       Lyra McKee, The Lost Boys (extracts); and/or ‘Suicide of the Ceasefire Babies’, Lost, Found, Remembered: In Her Own Words, 2021, pp. 11-57; 65-80.

    1. Briefly introduce the author and her work;

b.       Text: Consider how the author/narrator tells her experience and reflects about it; who she writes for: the Northern Irish reader, familiar with local history? Any reader? Her generation, the Ceasefire Babies? Any generation? Does the text resonate with you in any way? Why/Why not?

c.        Suggestions for discussion: what affected you the most when reading the essay? Does the fact that it is autobiographical (rather than fictional) play a role in how you found yourself engaging with it? What is your guiding question when re-reading this essay for purposes of your presentation? Follow it and explore it.

Suggestions for further reading/viewing:

McKee, Lyra ‘How uncomfortable conversations can save lives’, TED talk - https://www.ted.com/talks/lyra_mckee_how_uncomfortable_conversations_can_save_lives

‘In Memory of Lyra McKee: Lost, Found, Remembered’, Faber and Faber, 28 April 2021. Vídeo - file://localhost/In Memory of Lyra McKee/ Lost, Found, Remembered

Freeney, Brian (2004). A Short History of The Troubles.

Dawson, Graham (2007). Making Peace with the Past : Memory, Trauma and the Irish Troubles.

CAIN Archive - Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/index.html

Movies with 'the Troubles' as a theme (1968 to present). CAIN Web Service - https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/images/cinema/nimovies.htm

Top movies about the The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Irish Central. 11 Feb. 2022. https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/entertainment/northern-ireland-troubles-movies

Mulhall, Anne (2021). ‘Life Writing and Personal Testimony, 1970-Present’, Heather Ingman and Clíona Ó Gallhoir (eds.), A History of Modern Irish Women’s Literature, CUP. 383-409.

Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist, Éilís (2020). ‘Reflections on Memoir as a New Genre’, Irish University Review, Spring/Summer. 153-163. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/iur.2020.0442

Bryan, Dominic and Gordon Gillespie (2020). ‘Northern Ireland: More Shared and More Divided’, Renee Fox, Mike Cronin, Brian Ó Conchubhair (eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Irish Studies. 109-120.

7.       Seamus Heaney: Poems

a.        In this course book you find a selection of early, middle and late poems by Seamus Heaney. Choose a poem to discuss in your presentation.

Suggestions for further reading:

Heaney, Seamus (1998). Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996. 

--- (2006). District and Circle.

--- (2010). Human Chain.

O'Driscoll, Dennis (2008). Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney.

Murphy, Andrew (2010). Seamus Heaney. Writers and their Work. 3rd ed..

Corcoran, Neil (1998). After Yeats and Joyce: Reading Modern Irish Literature.

Homem, Rui Carvalho (2008). “Figuring the Self: ‘Old Fathers’ and Old Masters in Two Contemporary Irish Poets”, Anglo-Saxonica, No. 26: 89-107. http://ulices.letras.ulisboa.pt/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/anglosaxonica-II-26-1.pdf

Homem, Rui Carvalho (2018). “‘Memory Like Mitigation’: Heaney, Shakespeare and Ireland”, Nicholas Taylor-Collins and Stanley Van Der Ziel (eds.), Shakespeare and Contemporary Irish Literature. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 27-48. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95924-5_2

8.       Eavan Boland: Poems

a.        In this course book you find a selection of early, middle and late poems by Eavan Boland. Choose a poem to discuss in your presentation.

Suggestions for further reading:

Boland, Eavan (2005). New Collected Poems.

--- (2011). A Journey with Two Maps: Becoming a Woman Poet.

Randolph, Jody Allen (2007). Ed. Eavan Boland: A Sourcebook: Poetry, Prose, Interviews, Reviews and Criticism.

Clutterbuck, Catriona (1999). ‘Irish Critical Responses to Self-Representation in Eavan Boland, 1987-1995’. Colby Quarterly, Vol. 35: 4 (Dec.)

Collins, Lucy (2005). “Introduction” and “Lost Lands: The Creation of Memory in the Poetry of Eavan Boland”, Contemporary Irish Women Poets, Liverpool UP. 1-19; 23-48.

Haberstroh, Patrícia Boyle (2021). ‘Poetry 1970-Present’, Heather Ingman and Clíona Ó Gallhoir (eds.), A History of Modern Irish Women’s Literature, CUP. 294-31.

9.       Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These, 2021.

a.        Text: Consider the narrative voice and point of view and how these formal options shape the story and readers’ experience; consider characters, plot, intertextual references, and author’s ‘A Note on the Text’: how does the story address history? Consider reviews of the text: do you agree with them?

b.       Discussion: Bearing in mind your reading and research, what is it that intrigues/interests you the most in this story? Focus on it and explore it in your presentation.

 

Suggestions for further reading:

Booker Prize: Reading Guide to Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan - https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/reading-guide-small-things-like-these-by-claire-keegan

Keegan, Claire, The Booker Prize Interview - https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/claire-keegan-interview-my-central-character-isnt-someone-who-says-much

Ingman, Heather (2021). ‘The Short Story’, Heather Ingman and Clíona Ó Gallhoir (eds.), A History of Modern Irish Women’s Literature, CUP. 277-293.

 

Keegan, C. The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Vídeo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9nzyTicyDg

Ash, Lamorna (2021). ‘Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan – Between Happiness and Ruin’. Review of Small Things Like These. The New York Times. 22 Oct.. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/22/small-things-like-these-by-claire-keegan-between-happiness-and-ruin

Millet, Lydia (2021). ‘The Horrors of Irish Magdalene Laundries, Revisited’. Review of Small Things Like These. The New York Times. 30 Nov.. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/books/review/small-things-like-these-claire-keegan.html

Justice for Magdalen’s Research: A resource for People Affected by and Interested in Ireland’s Magdalen’s Institutions - http://jfmresearch.com/home/preserving-magdalene-history/about-the-magdalene-laundries/

Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries, Chapter 3 - https://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/2013Magdalen-P I Chapter 3 History (PDF - 3824KB).pdf/Files/2013Magdalen-P I Chapter 3 History (PDF - 3824KB).pdf

Smith, James M. (2007). Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries and Ireland’s Architecture of Containment.

 

10.    Peter Mullan, dir. The Magdalen Sisters, 2002.

a.        Research and briefly introduce the historical backdrop to the plot;

b.       Summarise the plot;

c.        Present clips of the scenes you consider more relevant to address in the classroom;

d.       Point of view: whose point(s) of view are the viewers invited to engage with in the film?

e.        Suggestions for discussion: consider perceptions of women’s role in Catholic Ireland; compare how the topic is approached in the film and in Claire Keegan’s novel.

Suggestions for further reading:

Justice for Magdalen’s Research: A resource for People Affected by and Interested in Ireland’s Magdalen’s Institutions - http://jfmresearch.com/home/preserving-magdalene-history/about-the-magdalene-laundries/

Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries, Chapter 3 - https://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/2013Magdalen-P I Chapter 3 History (PDF - 3824KB).pdf/Files/2013Magdalen-P I Chapter 3 History (PDF - 3824KB).pdf

Smith, James M. (2007). Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries and Ireland’s Architecture of Containment.

 

11.    Anne Enright, “Three Stories About Love”, The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers, ed. Sinéad Gleeson, 2015, pp. 166-176.

a.        Briefly introduce the author and her work;

b.       Text: Consider the narrative voice and point of view in each of the stories; consider the historical backdrop: the Celtic Tiger economic boom followed by the 2008 financial crash; emigration; immigration; ageing; consider the forms of love addressed in each of the stories; the relations between the main characters in each story: consider issues of exposure, vulnerability, intimacy, dependence.

c.        Suggestions for discussion: Consider the title: what do we tend to expect from love stories? Do these stories about love meet those expectations? How did you find yourself responding to each of them? What is the impact of having these stories brought together under a single title?

Suggestions for further reading:

Evans, Martina (2015). ‘The Long Gaze Back Review: A Feast of Female Voices’, Review of A Long Gaze Back, edited by Sinéad Gleeson. Irish Times, 12 Sept. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-long-gaze-back-review-a-feast-of-female-voices-1.2348626

Ingman, Heather (2007). Twentieth-Century Irish Fiction by Women: Nation and Gender.

--- (2009). ‘1980 to the present: changing identities’, A History of the Irish Short Story. 225-266.

Cahill, Susan (2021). ‘Celtic Tiger Fiction’, Heather Ingman and Clíona Ó Gallhoir (eds.), A History of Modern Irish Women’s Literature, CUP, 426-444.

Mulhall, Anne (2021). ‘Life Writing and Personal Testimony, 1970-Present’, Heather Ingman, Heather, and Clíona Ó Gallhoir (eds.), A History of Modern Irish Women’s Literature, CUP. 383-409.

Fasching, Hannelore (2013). “‘The new drama of being a mother about which so little has been written’: Maternal Subjectivity and the Mother Icon in Anne Enright’s Writing”, Yvonne O’Keefe and Claudia Reese (eds.), New Voices, Inherited Lines: Literary and Cultural Representations of the Irish Family. 183-201.

Costello-Sullivan, Kathleen (2020). ‘Trauma and recovery in the post-Celtic Tiger Period: Recuperating the parent-child bond in contemporary Irish fiction’, Renee Fox, Mike Cronin, Brian Ó Conchubhair (eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Irish Studies, 407-419.

 

  1. Lucy Caldwell, “Unter den Linden”, Openings: Thirteen Stories, London: Faber and Faber, 2024, pp. 133-141.
    1. Briefly introduce the author and her work;
    2. Text: Consider narrative voice and point of view; geographical and historical setting; check linguistic, political, and cultural references.
    3. Suggestions for discussion: consider how the story features big history and personal story, time present and time past.

Suggestions for further reading:

Lucy Caldwell website - https://www.lucycaldwell.com/; Interviews - https://www.lucycaldwell.com/interviews/

Caldwell, Lucy (2016). ‘An Openness, An Outwardness: Lucy Caldwell’s Multitudes and the Possibilities of Fiction,’ Interview by Susanne Stich, The Honest Ulsterman, Oct. https://humag.co/features/an-openness-an-outwardness

---, Kaleidoscope, KULeuven - https://kaleidoscope.efacis.eu/writer/caldwell-lucy

Levitin, Mia (2024), “Finding the Magic in Mothering”, Review of Lucy Caldwell’s Openings, TLS, 31 May - https://www.the-tls.co.uk/literature/fiction/openings-lucy-caldwell-book-review-mia-levitin

Patterson, James (2024), Book of the week: Openings, by Lucy Caldwell, RTÉ, 11 June - https://www.rte.ie/culture/2024/0610/1451987-book-of-the-week-openings-by-lucy-caldwell/