Irish literature 1800 to the present.

Picking up where CELT 138 Irish Literature 700-1800 leaves off, CELT 139 presents Irish Literature from 1800 to the present. Beginning with the Generation of 1798, we will follow Irish Literary Tradition through various historical developments, such as the 19th Century Song Tradition, the Irish Literary Revival (also known as “The Celtic Twilight,”), the advent of Modernism, and beyond. The focus will be on literature written originally in Irish, though our course will read these texts in English translation. Of course, Anglo-Irish Literature will play a significant part in these readings in so far as those works intersect with Irish language texts. Ireland was and is a multilingual society, from the moment Christianity brought writing to the island in the 5th Century CE. Over the time, English, French, and Norse all had their influences, but in the Modern Period, from the 17th century on, Ireland was a land of two primary spoken languages: Irish and English. Latin survived until the early 20th Century as a written (and occasionally spoken) language of scholarly and religious discussion, but it was almost never used during this period for literary or popular poetic texts. Indeed, until the middle of the 19th Century, most Irish people spoke Irish. The inherited literary tradition flourished until social calamities, including war and famine, played havoc with that inherited tradition, upending the old Gaelic Order and transforming Irish Literature in new and sometimes extreme ways. The movements of the Modern Period, called by many, often misleading, names (“the Irish Literary Renaissance,” “the Irish Revival,” “the Celtic Twilight,” etc.) arose to account for the vibrant struggle of the language and its literature down to the present. Some considerations will be central to our continued inquiry: What part did Colonialism and Nationalism play in the development of both language traditions in Ireland? How do poetry and prose survive under the grave circumstances presented by the nightmare of history? And how did Irish Literature, in both Irish and English, respond, react, and recalibrate, in reaction to the centuries following the Act of Union of 1800, the many and various rebellions and revolutionary movements of the “Long 19th Century,” and the years of upheaval surrounding Independence, Civil War, and the Free State?

Prerequisites: None.
Taught in English.

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills