Reading and Writing in Place: Ireland
/ English 316: Advanced Composition / Writing about the Social SciencesMarguerite Helmers, instructor
Department of English, Radford 226
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Tour Dates: May 15-26, 2011
These courses of the literary study tour Reading and Writing in Place combine an introduction to Irish literature, culture, history, and politics. Students enrolled in the courses will explore the ways that literary works respond to powerful landscapes and significant political events of their time. In turn, the students who travel to Ireland will keep a substantial journal of writing and field research that explores literature, place, and personal response.
Objectives
- Examine contemporary Irish culture by doing fieldwork.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of one social theme or concern.
- Develop personal connections to Irish literature, writers, culture, and places.
Performance & Attendance
You are expected to attend every session of the tour, including all site visits and group workshops. You should be prepared to share journal entries at each workshop.
Required Readings
These required readings should be completed prior to the tour departure date. Plan to bring print-outs of poems on the tour and your copy of Dubliners.
- Dubliners, James Joyce
- Meeting the Other Crowd, Eddie Lenihan
- Round Ireland with a Fridge
- Barnacle Soup
- Selected traditional ballads
Written Assignments & Grading Distribution
60%Journal. Your major assignment is to create an extensive journal that includes writing, sketching, photography, and found objects. Plan to carry your journal with you daily in Ireland and add to it regularly on the tour. The journal will records personal experiences, historical information, and reflections, questions, and annotations on the readings. Some journal entries will be assigned; they will be critical, creative, and reflective.
20%Individual Inquiry. Emerging from your reading, site visits, and journaling, you will demonstrate a critical understanding of a cultural theme or issue. A final essay of 1500 words that synthesizes your research, observations, and reflections of will be due no later than June 1.
20%Presentations & Workshops. You will participate in writing and literary discussion workshops at historical sites, sharing your writing, literary reflections, and accumulated historical knowledge.
Supplementary Selected Bibliography: Recommended Reading
Literary Works
Banville, John. The Book of Evidence.
Banville, John. Blackwater Lightship.
Barry, Sebastian. A Long Way.
Barry, Sebastian. The Secret Scripture.
Bourke, Angela. The Burning of Bridget Cleary
Bowen, Elizabeth. The Last September.
Dean, John. The Heather Fields and Other Stories.
Doyle, Roddy. The Commitments.
Doyle, Roddy. The Deportees.
Frawley, Oona. New Dubliners.
Friel, Brian. Translations.
Hawks, Tony. Round Ireland with a Fridge.
Joyce, James. Ulysses.
McCourt, Frank. Angela’s Ashes.
McDonagh, Martin. The Beauty Queen of Leenane.
O’Casey, Sean. The Silver Tassie.
Solnit, Rebecca. A Book of Migrations.
Synge, J. M. The Playboy of the Western World.
Trevor, William, The Collected Stories.
Trevor, William. The Story of Lucy Gault.
Fairy Tales
Kirk, Robert. The SecretCommonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies.
Lenihan, Eddie. Meeting the Other Crowd.
Maccoitir, Niall. Irish Trees: Myths, Legends, and Folklore
Yeats, W. B. The Celtic Twilight.
Films
Angela’s Ashes
Michael Collins.
Ondine
The Secret of Kells.
The Secret of Roan Inish.
The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
Historical Works
Cronin, Mike. A History of Ireland.
Moody, T. W. The Course of Irish History, 4th Edition
O’Brien, Conor Cruise. Ancestral Voices: Religion and Nationalism in Ireland.
Scally, Robert. The End of Hidden Ireland: Rebellion, Famine, and Emigration.