ANN-376.46
AN-376.46, ZAN-IS02.01, ZB-N05, AKN-376.46
From Swift to Beckett: The Anglo-Irish Literary Cultural Tradition, Part 1 (Swifttől Beckettig, 1) in autumn 2008
Takács Ferenc, Wed 15:00–16:30, MUK 315/, host: DES (R338)
description & set texts

The two-semester seminar course traces the emergence and evolution of a distinct Irish literary culture in the English language from its 18th-century beginnings to its 20th-century contribution to High Modernism and beyond. The first part of the course covers the 18th-century and early 19th-century part of the story, beginning with the satirical protest of Jonathan Swift, including Maria Edgeworth's fictional commemoration of "Ascendancy" Ireland. Other important authors discussed include George Berkeley, Oliver Goldsmith, R. B. Sheridan and Edmund Burke.

1. The Emergence of Modern Ireland: History, Language and Politics.

2. Jonathan Swift and the Beginnings of Anglo-Irish Nationalism: A Modest Proposal

3. The Enlightenment in Irish Perspective: Gulliver's Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhms

4. "We Irish": George Berkeley, Solipsism and Tarwater.

5. "Whose English?": Oliver Goldsmith and the Absurdity of Communication

6. "The Year of the French": Grattan's Parliament, United Irishmen and the Act of Union

7. The Language of the Other as Malapropism: Richard Brinsley Sheridan and the London Stage

8. The Politics of Consent and the Rhetoric of Resistance: Edmund Burke, Conservative Anarchist

9. The Hiberno-English Voice and the Anglo-Irish Predicament: Maria Edgeworth, Ascendancy, The Big House and Castle Rackrent

requirements & assessment

A 5 to 7 page term paper on any of the authors, literary works or literary and cultural aspects discussed is required for the successful completion of the course