EGL 307 - Jr. Seminar (Spring): Irish Literature and Sexual Identity

Course Units: 1

(Spring; Bracken) This course will examine Irish literature and film, focusing on issues relating to gender and sexuality in the post-colonial culture of 20th and 21st century Ireland. We will be looking at the ways in which traditional configurations of gender and sexuality are destabilised in these texts, operating as a response to conservative prescriptions of nationalist Irish identity. Attention will be paid to representations of the body, and the manner in which these representations are connected with language and writing. Texts may include James Joyce’s Ulysses (selections), Pat Murphy’s film Nora, Kate O’Brien’s novel As Music and Splendour, Peter Mullan’s film The Magdalene Sisters, Samuel Beckett’s story “First Love,” Steve McQueen’s film Hunger, Eavan Boland’s poetry collection Outside History, and Marian Quinn’s film 32A. CC: HUL