Literary Ireland (May 24-June 2, 2008)
Timothy Martin (timartin@camden.rutgers.edu)
Graduate and undergraduate English (350), Graduate Liberal Studies (606)

This course will introduce students to a young but rich tradition of Irish literature written since the late nineteenth century: first, in Camden, with readings in fiction, drama, and poetry of the period; then, in Ireland, with explorations of their historical and cultural contexts. We will study works by Joyce, Yeats, O'Casey, Synge, Liam O'Flaherty, and Seamus Heaney, and we will visit the medieval monastery at Clonmacnoise and the Georgian estate of Powerscourt, as well as many cultural sites in and around Dublin: the James Joyce Centre, Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Kilmainham Gaol. The tour will be divided between the East and the West of Ireland: between cosmopolitan Dublin, with its theatres and museums, and romantic Galway, including an overnight visit to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. In between, we'll spend two nights in the medieval town of Kilkenny.

Classes will meet for eight of the fourteen weeks of the Spring term (including the first).

Estimated price $2300