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Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

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Date posted: September 2024

Module Title Irish Writing
Module Code EL303 (ITS) / LIT1033 (Banner)
Faculty Humanities & Social Sciences School English
Module Co-ordinatorEllen Howley
Module TeachersDarran McCann, Derek Hand, Gearoid O'Flaherty, Paula Murphy
NFQ level 8 Credit Rating 5
Pre-requisite Not Available
Co-requisite Not Available
Compatibles Not Available
Incompatibles Not Available
None
Description

The purpose of this module is to explore the link between Irish literature and history though a consideration of central texts in Irish writing written from the Revival period of the later 19th and early 20th century up to the 21st century. The course will trace modern Ireland’s developing relationship to its past as a creative dynamic and will look at the changing social and cultural conditions of the rural and urban in Ireland. The course examines how writers have responded to historical developments in Ireland: its independence and Revivalist movement, the post-independent counter-revival moment, economic developments, the crisis in the North of Ireland and the anxieties of globalisation in more recent times. The demands of nation, of being loyal to the local while being true to the demands of the self are central themes. The position of women, of class differences, and religion will also be considered, as will the notion of immigration and emigration, of how Ireland and Irishness sees itself at home and away.

Learning Outcomes

1. Recognize key features of Irish writing from the later nineteenth century to the contemporary moment.
2. Trace central preoccupations of Irish writing such as national identity; religion; gender; class, language
3. Appreciate the complex creative relations at play between Irish writers from various periods.
4. Engage with Irish writing in relation to significant cultural and political developments in local and global contexts.
5. Show understanding of the changes and developments in Ireland as reflected in the literature of the period.
6. Consider central developments of in Irish writing reflected in form, content and genre



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Lecture21Lectures
Independent Study104Independent Learning
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

James Joyce

Patrick Kavanagh

Mary Lavin

Eilis Ni Dhuibhne

Anne Enright

Colum McCann

George Moore

Roddy Doyle

W.B. Yeats

Claire Keegan

Paula Meehan

Edna O’Brien

John McGahern

Flann O’Brien

John Banville

Elizabeth Bowen

Seamus Heaney

Ciaran Carson

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment100% Examination Weight0%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
EssayEssay25%n/a
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories:
Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module.
Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1
Indicative Reading List

  • John Wilson Foster (Editor): 2006, The Cambridge Companion to the Irish Novel, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
  • Joe Cleary (Ed): 2014, The Cambridge Companion to Irish Modernism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
  • Gillis, Alan (ed): 2013, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Poetry, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
Other Resources

None

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