Yeats: Easter 1916, Med Civil War, 1919

Eng 448 / 543 Studies in Irish Literature and Culture

Masculinity and Violencein

Irish Literature and Culture

Fall Semester 2006 * 40703 / 89571 * MW 1:40-2:55 * LL 264 * Professor Gregory Castle

Mural, Bogside, Derry photo copyright Kathryn Conrad July 2000

This course will explore the representations of masculinity in Irish literature, art and film, from a variety of perspectives. Because the history of such representations inevitably intersects with violence (physical and rhetorical), we will be concerned with how violence determines masculinity and how masculinity defines and shapes violence, particularly in the political sphere. We will begin with the writers of the Gaelic League and the Celtic Revival and work our way through the twentieth century. We will study poetry, plays, novels and political writings alongside works of art (murals, paintings and other visual images) and films. The readings will include works by women as well as men, because it is important to see how the vision of masculinity that has evolved in Irish literature and culture has been in part crafted and critiqued by women. This course will raise a number of theoretical questions about gender and violence, questions that will prove of obvious relevance to our contemporary moment.

Reading List

Harrington, ed. Modern Irish Drama (MID)

Joyce, Dubliners (1916)

Beckett, Molloy (1951)

MacLaverty, Cal (1983)

Banville, Book of Evidence (1989)

Boland, In a Time of Violence (1995)

McCabe, Breakfast on Pluto (1999)

Additional readings will be managed through handouts and Hayden Reserve.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Writing Assignments and Examinations. In addition to reading and class participation, you are required to complete the following assignments and examinations:

Critical paper (6-8 pp.), due week 8. This paper will explore issues of masculinity theory in an analysis of texts and/or films we have discussed so far.You are expected to incorporate critical theoretical materials in their papers and to meet with the instructor at least once during weeks 6 and 7. (20% of grade)
Critical research paper (12-15 pp.), due week 16. For this second assignment, you areinvited to continue exploring the issues and concerns of the first paper and to incorporate additional texts/films in the analysis. Incorporating additional texts/films will enable you to build a progressive, historical, comparative argument. It is possible, through consultation with the instructor, to begin a new topic for this assignment, but in any case, it is likely that some of the critical and theoretical concerns of the first paper will be carried over into the second.You must meet with the instructor during weeks 13 and 14 and submit a preliminary report (1-2 pp) for the final paper, with a provisional bibliography, no later than Wed. Nov. 22. (40% of grade)
Two short online midterm exams to be completed on Blackboard (week 5 and week 10) (10% each, 20% of grade). Final examination (20% of grade). Examinations will cover all assigned material, including films.
All papers must be typed and follow the guidelines for formatting and citation given inthe ASU Department of English Guide to Style (or the MLA Handbook). Late papers will be docked one-third letter grade per calendar day (including weekends); after 5 calendar days (including weekends) they may not be accepted. Missed assignments may result in a failing grade for the course.
PhD option: seminar paper (20+ pages) (60% of grade), annotated bibliography (20% of grade) and a final examination (20% of grade).

Attendance. Attendance, of course, is mandatory. Anything beyond three (3) absences (i.e., 10% of total course hours) may result in a grade penalty. Excused absences will be considered only on a case-by-case basis and in advance (if possible). Excessive absence (i.e., more than 20% of total course hours) may result in a failing grade. Habitual tardiness can produce the same effects on your grade as unexcused absence.

Plagiarism.Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Study carefully the section on plagiarism in The ASU Department of English Style Sheet. If you are still not clear about the difference between receiving help and committing plagiarism, see me. Disciplinary action ranges from a failing grade to suspension from the University. Bear in mind that transcripts now indicate when plagiarism has led to a failing grade.

University Deadlines

Late Registration and Drop/Add Aug 25

Course Withdrawal Deadline (in person)Oct. 27

Course Withdrawal Deadline (ASU Interactive & Sun Dial) Oct 29

Complete Withdrawal DeadlineDec 5

SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND SCREENINGS

Week One.

Mon. 8/21Greetings & introductions

Wed. 8/23Yeats, Cathleen Ni Houlihan (MID)

Lady Gregory, Spreading the News (MID)

Week Two

Mon. 8/28Connell, “The Social Organization of Masculinity”

Carrigan et al., “Toward a New Sociology of Masculinity”

Wed. 8/30Synge, The Playboy of the Western World (MID)

Week Three

Mon. 9/4Labor Day

Wed. 9/6Pearse, from speeches and pamphlets (handout)

MacDonagh, Plunkett, Pearse, sel. poems (handout)

Fri. 9/8Film: Michael Collins

Week Four

Mon. 9/11Yeats, poems online:

“Easter 1916,” “Meditations in Time of Civil War,”“Nineteen Hundred and

Nineteen”

Film: Michael Collins

Wed. 9/13Yeats, Purgatory (MID)

Week Five

Mon. 9/18Bourke, “The Ideal Man: Irish Masculinity and the Home, 1880-1914”

Curtin, “‘A Nation of Abortive Men’”

Film: Shake Hands with the Devil

Wed. 9/20O’Casey, Juno and the Paycock (MID)

Lady Gregory, The Rising of the Moon (MID)

First online exam (time TBA)

Fri. 9/22Film: Shake Hands with the Devil

Week Six

Mon. 9/25O’Casey, Juno and the Paycock (MID)

Wed. 9/27Rubin, “The Traffic in Women”

Weeks 6 & 7: conferences for 1st paper

Week Seven

Mon. 10/2Rubin, “The Traffic in Women”

Sedgwick, from Between Men

Wed. 10/4Joyce, Dubliners

Week Eight

Mon. 10/9Joyce, Dubliners

Krishnaswamy, “The Economy of Colonial Desire”

Wed. 10/11Joyce, Dubliners

First paper dueWed., Oct. 11

Week Nine

Mon. 10/16Foucault, “We ‘Other Victorians.’”

Vance, “Social Construction Theory and Sexuality”

Wed. 10/18Butler, “Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions”

Bricknell, “Masculinities, Performativity, and Subversion”

Fri. 10/20Film: Cal

Week Ten

Mon. 10/23MacLaverty, Cal

Film: Cal

Wed. 10/25MacLaverty, Cal

Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”

Second online exam(time TBA)

Week Eleven

Mon. 10/30Boland, In a Time of Violence

Wed. 11/1Boland, In a Time of Violence

Fri. 11/3Film: Angel

Week Twelve

Mon. 11/6Murphy, A Whistle in the Dark (handout or reserve)

Film: Angel

Wed. 11/8Murphy, A Whistle in the Dark (handout or reserve)

Week Thirteen

Mon. 11/13Beckett, Molloy

Gutterman, “Postmodernism and the Interrogation of Masculinity”

Wed. 11/15Beckett, Molloy; Krapp’s Last Tape (MID)

Fri. 11/17Film: Crying Game

Weeks 13 & 14: conferences for 2nd paper

Week Fourteen

Mon. 11/20Simpson, “Transvestism and Misogyny in The Crying Game”

Film: Crying Game

Wed. 11/22Banville, Book of Evidence

Week Fifteen

Mon. 11/27Banville, Book of Evidence

Green, “Part of the Package: Ideas of Masculinity among Male-

Identified Transpeople”

Film: Breakfast on Pluto

Wed. 11/29McCabe, Breakfast on Pluto

Fri. 12/1Film: Breakfast on Pluto

Week Sixteen

Mon. 12/4McCabe, Breakfast on Pluto

Second paper due Wed. Dec. 6