EGL 270 - Imagining the Nation(s): Ireland/India

Course Units: 1.0

This course will explore the colonial and postcolonial literary histories of India and Ireland, exploring the decolonizing energies of both countries’ key writers. A comparative class, we will analyze three important moments in Ireland and India’s literary histories, focusing on the colonial, postcolonial, and globalized periods. Beginning with the colonial, the class will study the late 19^th and early 20^th century era, focusing on the writers Rabindranath Tagore and W.B. Yeats, both Nobel literature prize winners, modernist innovators, and decolonial activists for independence in their respective countries. Following this, we will move into the mid to late 20^th century postcolonial periods of India and Ireland, specifically reading the work of Edna O’Brien and Arundhati Roy. Their work (and its reception) exposes many of the colonial legacies in post-independence, as well as its contradictions and gendered and religious repressions. Lastly, the course will consider the work of two contemporary 21^st century writers, Sally Rooney and Meena Kandasamy, exploring zones of connection between globalization, colonial histories, gender and sexuality. Prerequisite(s): EGL 100 or EGL 101 or EGL 102 or a grade of 5 on the AP English Literature or Language test. CC: HUL, HUM, WAC, WAC-R ISP: GSWS, AIS