Major Irish Authors: Yeats,
Joyce & Beckett
Course
Description
Yeats,
Joyce and Beckett are
indeed the major
Irish writers -
those to whom the world
pays most attention and
whose "Irishnes"
is part of the way that
they are interpreted and
valued. Mor specifically,
they are the greatest
of the modern Irish writers,
though many would include
the names of Oscar Wilde
and George Bernard Shaw,
John Millington Synge
or even Sean O'Casey in
such a list while others
would cast a vote for
Bram Stoker - author of
the best-known horror
story of all in his novel
Dracula - not to
mention Seamus Heaney,
Brian Friel, John Banville
or Colm Toibin in our
own time. Of earlier Irish
writers, it is Jonathan
Swift who comes immediately
to mind; but he is by
definition an "Anglo-Irish"
writer - that is, a representative
of a class and culture
that held the stage during
the colonial chapter of
Irish history, whereas
the three whom we are
about to study Irish in
a characteristically (if
complex) modern way.
In
this course we will be
examining a selection
of their poetry, drama,
and fiction while touching
on their lives and careers
the better to understand
and appreciate their works,
but also because we are
interested in the light
they shed on the society
from which they sprang,
and to which they have
have attracted so much
interest in the eyes of
the world. In a certain
sense, Ireland is its
writers since the figure
that the country cuts
in the world is so largely
shaped by the fact that
it has produced an unusual
number of Nobel prize-winners
and a "standing army"
of less famous writers
out of all proportion
to the scale of its population.
If
our three writers alone
were taken as a sample,
it would mean that there
is a literary genius in
the first rank of work-writers
for every million souls
in the population. That
is as if Manchester or
Sao Paolo had three Nobel
prize-winners - though,
for the record, it should
be noted that the Irish
holders of that prize
are Shaw, Yeats, Beckett
and Seamus Heaney and
not James Joyce who was
- unfairly? - overlooked
by the Swedish judges
of the award. Why so many
great writers in the relatively
short period 1925 (G.
B Shaw) to 1995 (Heaney)?
It will be part of our
quest to identify the
factors in the national
life of Ireland - its
cultural dynamics - which
have caused the country
to produce such a sophisticated
tradition of literary
representation in the
twentieth century and
beyond.
In
one sense it is odd to
call the three authors
in question Irish writers
at all. Each of them was
born in Ireland but none
of them stayed there for
very long. Yeats went
to school in London and
continually returned there
for much of the year throughout
his life, recognising
it as the real centre
of English-language culture
of which his intense devotion
to the idea of Irish literature
was, after all, a specialist
concern. (We will consider
more closely what it meant
for him to become an
Irish writer rather than
a British one.) By contrast,
both Joyce and Beckett
moved to continental Europe
in youthful rebellion
against the Ireland of
their day. In that sense,
both were cosmopolitan
where Yeats was metropolitan.
Yet Joyce and Beckett,
though they associated
closely in Paris during
the 1920s, were divided
by their backgrounds:
Joyce was a Irish Catholic
by birth (if virulently
anti-clerical), while
Beckett was a member of
a middle-class Protestant
and a member of a social
group that had retained
a good deal of financial
and professional security
in the predominantly Catholic
state around them.
Given
the complexities of national
identity in modern Ireland
- especially in the literary
world where values are
often turned surprisingly
on their head - a definite
attempt will be made in
this course to situate
each of the three writers
in question in terms of
the social and cultural
formations from which
they stemmed, but also
to form an estimate of
their individual ways
of engaging with "Irishness"
in the light of their
class-origins and their
intellectual ideals.
In that sense, the literary
achievement of each will
be interrogated from a
postcolonial standpoint.
Yet none of these writers,
as we will emphatically
find out, can simply be
regarded as the voice
of the modern nation coming
out of colonial bondage
and the strangle-hold
of British imperial power;
nor is any one of them
a casebook study of literary
Unionism or literary Nationalism
either - where "Unionism"
signifies a continuing
attachment to British
society and "Nationalism"
stands for a sympathy
or even an engagement
in the process of political
separatism.
An
interest in Irish history
and culture will certainly
help you get to grips
with these writers, but
it is part of their achievement
that they can be read
and enjoyed without
regard to their national
context. Some students
will prefer to view ee
them in the context of
international Modernism;
others will read them
in the wider contexts
of British or even European
literary history, or else
as world-class writers
who simply cannot be ignored
by educated readers in
any culture or language.
There is room, too, for
both philosophical approaches
which concentrate on the
aesthetic or even the
hermetic sense of the
texts themselves. Yet,
whether we take a liberal-humanist
(e.g., belles-lettriste)
approach or a materialism
(e.g., post-structuralist)
approach, these three
Irish authors were masters
of poetry and prose from
whom the world has learnt
what literature is,
and what it does and
therefore part of a cultural
canon against which our
critical ideas must be
tested and judged.
A final
word about materials.
I will make every effort
to supply you with digital
copies of all texts displayed
in class using the email
network of your Faculty
at UFRN. I will also mirror
those materials on a dedicated
website at www.ricorso.net/tx/Authors
- where you are reading
this, in fact! In addition,
you can find a much wider
selection of materials
relating to each author
on the course (along with
hundreds of others), on
the RICORSO website which
I have compiled for students
of Irish literary at www.ricorso.net.
No password is necessary
to access the latter website
at the present moment,
but in the future you
may be asked for one.
If so, the password will
be ricorso/dalriada
- and if that changes
you can get an update
from The Brazilian Association
for Irish Studies [ABEI],
or from its members in
the Faculty of Literature
and Languages at UFRN.
If
you are interested in
continuing with the study
of Irish writers, why
not join Associação
Brasileira de Estudos
Irlandeses [ABEI]?
This year, the Association
is holding the "7th
Symposium of Irish Studies
in South America"
on August 27th-29th at
UFRN (Natal). For further
details about that event
and everything relating
to ABEI (which has its
own internationally-respected
journal) at their website
- online
Aims
& Objectives
On completion of the
course you can expect
to have:
gained a familiarity
with the major works of
the three named writers
in the genres of poetry,
prose and drama;
placed their work
in its historical and
cultural contexts and
appraised their value
and significance accordingly;
become familiar with
a most important critical
responses and reached
your own view (identical
or different);
sharpened your analytical
skills and powers of argument
and practised your ability
to respond to English-language
texts in spoken/written
contexts.
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Study
Methods
Course meetings will be
held on Mondays and Wednesdays
during each of three successive
weeks in August, between
2.30-5.00 pm, with an
interval for refreshment
after the first hour.
In the second week only
the Monday meeting will
be held since I am travelling
to Sao Paolo with some
other members of your
University to participate
in a conference on James
Joyce.
Each
meeting will consist of
a) a 1-hour lecture, to
be followed by b) an account
of sample texts by the
writer in question. The
second (b) may take the
form of question and answer
if you wish. You are invited
to seek clarification
or state your opinions
about any matter raised
in either part of the
meeting during Office
Hours on at the same period
on Thursdays (i.e., 2.30-5.00
pm) when I will be available
in the same teaching room.
Evaluation
Those who are taking the
course for credit points
are expected to provide
good attendance and to
submit work at the end
of the course - the date
to be determined later
- answering to one of
two possible formats:
a)
an essay of 5 pages (or
1,000-1,500 words) briefly
addressing a topic of
your own choosing in the
subject area and dealing
with ONE or MORE of the
authors;
b)
A workbook exhibiting
a record of the information
and interpretation(s)
gathered during the progress
of the course.
The
first option may be completed
in English or Portuguese
but the second option
must be completed in English.
(See further details.)
Note:
There is a mini-test in
the form of samples of
prose writing by each
of our three authors for
identification on the
attached page.
Depending on your response
in class, I am thinking
of adding this to the
Evaluation options.
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Reading
List & Other Resources
Note:
Online anthologies of
each author are available
under "Resources"
> [author name] on
this website. These chiefly
consist of extracts -
longer or shorter - taken
from the texts under discussion
and some others, but should
not be allowed to prevent
you from examining the
originals in book form.
Sets of the complete works
of Yeats and Joyce are
available in the RICORSO
Library [online].
You will need a password
to access parts of the
Library -ricorso/dalriada.
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Primary
texts (literary works)
W. B. Yeats
[Collected and selected
editions by Richard Finneran,
Daniel Albright, Timothy
Webb, et al., may also
be used.
E.g.,—
Selected Poems,
ed. A. N. Jeffares (Gill
& Macmillan)
Selected Plays,
ed. A. N. Jeffares (Gill
& Macmillan)
Selected Prose,
ed. A. N. Jeffares (Gill
& Macmillan)
Writings on Irish Folklore,
Legend, and Myth,
ed., Robert Welch (Penguin)
Note: a fuller bibliography
of secondary reading (i.e.,
Criticism) can be found
under "Resources"
> W. B. Yeats >
Bibliography [as attached].
James
Joyce
Dubliners (Penguin)
A Portrait of the Artist
(Penguin)
Ulysses: Student Edition
(Penguin)
[Other editions of the
works of Joyce may also
be used.]
Note: a fuller bibliography
of secondary reading (i.e.,
Criticism) can be found
under "Resources"
> W. B. Yeats >
Bibliography [as attached].
Samuel
Beckett
The Complete Dramatic
Works (Faber &
Faber)
The Beckett Trilogy
(Calder & Boyars)
The Shorter Plays of
Samuel Beckett (Faber
& Faber)
Note: a fuller bibliography
of secondary reading (i.e.,
Criticism) can be found
under "Resources"
> W. B. Yeats >
Bibliography [as attached].
Secondary
texts (Criticism)
W.
B. Yeats
John Unterecker, A
Readers Guide to
W. B. Yeats (1959).
T. R. Henn, The Lonely
Tower: Studies in the
Poetry of Yeats [rev.
edn.] (1965).
Louis MacNeice, The
Poetry of W. B. Yeats
[rep. edn.] (1967).
A. Norman Jeffares, A
Commentary on The Collected
Poems of W. B. Yeats
(1968)
—& A. S. Knowland,
A Commentary on the
Plays of W. B. Yeats
(1975).
A. N. Jeffares, W.
B. Yeats: A New Life (1988).
Mary Helen Thuente, W.
B. Yeats and Irish Folklore
(1980).
Harold Bloom, Yeats
(OUP 1970; London: Fontana
1971).
Denis Donoghue, Yeats
(Fontana 1971).
Richard Ellmann, Yeats:
The Man and the Masks
[rev. edn.] (1979).
—, The Identity
of Yeats [rep. edn.]
(1983).
Richard Kain, Dublin
in the Age of W. B. Yeats
and James Joyce (1972).
Frank Tuohy, Yeats:
An Illustrated Biography
[rep.edn.] (1991).
Alasdair D. F. Macrae,
W. B. Yeats: A Literary
Life (1994).
Jonathan Allison, ed.,
Yeatss Political
Identities: Selected Essays
(1996).
R. F. Foster, W. B.
Yeats: A Life, 2 Vols.
[The Apprentice
Mage & The
Arch-Poet 1915-1939
(1996 & 2003).
Brenda Maddox, Georges
Ghosts: A New Life of
W. B. Yeats (1999).
Terence Brown, W. B.
Yeats: A Critical Life
(1999).
Marjorie Howes & John
Kelly, The
Cambridge Companion
to W. B. Yeats (2004).
James
Joyce
Stuart Gilbert, James
Joyces Ulysses
(1930).
Frank Budgen, James
Joyce & the Making
of Ulysses
(1934).
Richard M. Kain, Fabulous
Voyager: James Joyces
Ulysses
(1947).
S. L. Goldberg, The
Classical Temper: A Study
of James Joyces
Ulysses
(1961).
Clive Hart, ed., James
Joyces Dubliners:
Critical Essays (1969).
Richard Ellmann, The
Consciousness of Joyce
(1977).
—, James Joyce
[rev. edn.] (1982)
[the standard biography].
Hugh Kenner, Ulysses
(1980).
Derek Attridge & Daniel
Ferrer, eds., Post-structuralist
Joyce: Essays from the
French (1984).
Don Gifford, Ulysses
Annotated [rev. edn.]
(1989).
Derek Attridge, ed., The
Cambridge
Companion to James Joyce
(1990).
Alan Roughley, James
Joyce and Critical Theory:
An Introduction (1991).
Morris Beja, James
Joyce: A Literary Life
(1992).
James Fairhall, James
Joyce and the Question
of History (1993).
Emer Nolan, James Joyce
and Nationalism (1995).
Vincent J. Cheng, Joyce,
Race, and Empire (1995).
Robert Spoo, James
Joyce and the Language
of History: Dedalus
Nightmare (1995).
Michael Groden, Ulysses
in Progress (1977)
Margot Norris, A Companion
to James Joyces
Ulysses (1998).
Mark A. Wollaeger, ed.,
James Joyces
A Portrait of the Artist
as a Young Man: A Casebook
(2003).
Jean-Michel Rabaté,
ed., James Joyce Studies
[Palgrave Advances Studies]
(2004).
Eric Bulson, Cambridge
Introduction to James
Joyce (2006).
Bruce Stewart , James
Joyce [chap.], in
Jack Foster, ed., The
Cambridge
Companion to the Irish
Novel (2006).
—, James Joyce
[V.I.P. Series] (2007).
Samuel
Beckett
John Fletcher,
The Novels of Samuel Beckett
[rev. edn.] (1970).
Hugh Kenner, Samuel
Beckett: A Critical Study
(1962).
—, A Readers
Guide to Samuel Beckett
(1973).
Ruby Cohn, Back to
Beckett [rep. edn.]
(1976).
Steven Connor, Samuel
Beckett: Repetition, Theory
and Text (1988).
Christopher Ricks, Becketts
Dying Words (1990).
John Harrington, The
Irish Beckett (1991).
Paul Davies, The Ideal
Real: Becketts Fiction
and Imagination (1994).
John Pilling, ed., The
Cambridge
Companion to Beckett
(1994).
James Knowlson, Damned
to Fame: The Life of Samuel
Beckett (1996).
Anthony Cronin, Samuel
Beckett: The Last Modernist
(1996).
R. B. Kershner, ed., Joyce
and Popular Culture
(1996).
David Pattie, The Complete
Critical Guide to Samuel
Beckett (2000).
Lois Oppenheim, ed., Beckett
Studies [Palgrave
Advances Series] (2004).
C. J. Ackerley & S.
E. Gontarski, eds., The
Faber Companion to Samuel
Beckett: A Readers
Guide to his Works, Life,
and Thought (2004).
Ronan McDonald, ed., The
Cambridge
Introduction to Samuel
Beckett (2006).
General
Studies (incl. significant
remarks on Joyce)
Malcolm Brown, The
Politics of Irish Literature:
From Thomas Davis to W.
B. Yeats (1972)
Richard Ellmann, Wilde,
Yeats, Joyce and Beckett:
Four Dubliners (1982).
Seamus Deane, Celtic
Revivals: Essays in Modern
Irish Literature 1880-1980
(1986).
David Cairns , & Shaun
Richards, Writing
Ireland: Colonialism,
Nationalism and Culture
(1988).
Richard Kain, Dublin
in the Age of W. B. Yeats
and James Joyce [rep.
edn.] (1992).
Robert Welch, Changing
States: Transformations
in Modern Irish Writing
(1993).
George J. Watson, Irish
Identity and the Literary
Revival [rev. edn.]
(1995).
Literary
History and Reference
Works
Terence Brown, Ireland:
A Social and Cultural
History, 1922-1979
(1981).
Seamus Deane, A Short
History of Irish Literature
(1982).
Robert Hogan, ed., Dictionary
of Irish Literature, 2
vols. (1996).
Terence Brown, Ireland:
A Social and Cultural
History, 1922-1979
(1981).
Robert Welch, ed., The
Oxford
Companion to Irish Literature
, asst. ed. Bruce Stewart
(1996).
John Wilson Foster, Fictions
of the Irish Revival:
A Changling Art (1987).
Norman Vance, Irish
Literature: A Social History
(1990).
Declan Kiberd, Inventing
Ireland:
The Literature of a Modern
Nation (1995).
Joe Cleary & Claire
Connolly, eds., The
Cambridge
Companion to Modern Irish
Culture (2005).
Margaret Kelleher &
Phillip OLeary,
eds., The Cambridge
History of Irish Literature
(2005).
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