Anglistische Literaturwissenschaft - Department of English

Chemnitz University of Technology

Anglistische Literaturwissenschaft/

English Literature(s)

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English Literature(s) SS 06 Contemporary Irish Novelists

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Proseminar: Contemporary Irish Novelists

Course Description

One of the qualities most often associated with the Irish is their talent for storytelling. In this course, we will examine a number of novelists both from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and the ways in which their 'stories' represent, reflect and critically interrogate developments within contemporary Irish society, culture, and politics. Questions to be considered relate to national identity in an era of globalisation, the relationship between tradition and innovation in 'Celtic Tiger' Ireland, issues of religion, gender, sexuality and ethnicity in the 'new Ireland', or the challenges and contradictions posed by the Northern Ireland Peace Process.

Prerequisites:

In order to participate, students of Anglistik/Amerikanistik need to have completed the lecture course “Introduction to the Study of Literature” successfully. Please present the Schein in the first session of the course.

Requirements:

regular and active participation, oral presentation, term paper

Registration:

Registration before 15 March 2006 via email to Mark Schreiber

Term papers:

- size: 10 - 15 pp. (minimum 10 pp.)
- language: English

Primary reading:

1. Bolger, Dermot, ed. (1997). Finbar’s Hotel. London: Picador.
2. Doyle, Roddy (1997). The Woman Who Walked into Doors. London: Penguin.
3. McCabe, Patrick (2002). Emerald Germs of Ireland. New York: Harper Collins Perennial.
4. O’Connor, Joseph, ed. (2002). Yeats is Dead. A Mystery by 15 Irish Writers. London:
Jonathan Cape.
5. Patterson, Glenn (2004). Number 5. London: Penguin.
6. Tóibín, Colm (2001). The Blackwater Lightship. New York: Scribner.

Suggested secondary reading:

1. Peach, Linden (2004). The Contemporary Irish Novel: Critical Readings. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan.
2. Smyth, Gerry (1997). The Novel and the Nation. Studies in the New Irish Fiction. London:
Pluto Press.
3. Harte, Liam and Michael Parker, eds. (2000). Contemporary Irish Fiction. Themes,
Tropes, Theories. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Please click here to go to the course pages.