English 134

Contemporary Literature

Book List

Enright, Anne: The Gathering; Friel, Brian: Translations; McBride, Eimear: A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing; McEwan, Ian: Atonement; Smith, Zadie: White Teeth

Description

This course will survey Irish and British writing since World War II.  As we dig into the formal and generic workings of a range of texts, we will also think through the political and cultural contexts from which they emerge.  Along the way, we’ll consider the period of postwar decolonization and the afterward of the British Empire; the social and cultural shifts of the 1960s and 1970s and the differing rhythms of these shifts in the United Kingdom and Ireland; the history of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland; the legacies of the “Celtic Tiger,” Ireland’s economic boom, bust, and recovery during the turn of the millennium; and issues surrounding race, gender, and nation in the British archipelago in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

In addition to the books listed above, we'll read poems by Philip Larkin, Stevie Smith, Seamus Heaney, Geoffrey Hill, Tom Raworth, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Tom Leonard, Denise Riley, Eavan Boland, Jackie Kay, Carol Ann Duffy, and Daljit Nagra, along with a few short stories and essays.  (All poems and shorter texts will be available online and in a course reader.)

Discussion Sections

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