English Literature

Recommended Prerequisites

Advanced skills in English

Teaching Methods

Students will be required to take part in all class discussions. Each student will have to make an oral presentation in class of either a fictional text or a theoretical essay relevant to the issues of the course programme. By the end of the semester a workshop will take place in which all students will present the project of their final written work. Final essays should be rewritten taking into account the feedback received at the workshop.

Final assessment will take into account these three elements.

Learning Outcomes

The seminar aims to consolidate, extend and deepen students’ knowledge about contemporary literature in English; to familiarize students with theoretical concepts and literary conventions  relevant to the study of contemporary literature; to develop a critical awareness about the topics under discussion; to provide students with advanced and independent research skills.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

This seminar will address the work of contemporary Irish women writers, north and south of the border. An initial survey of the field will include the historical and cultural contextualization of the fiction produced by women both in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. This survey will be followed by analysis and discussion of tales, short stories and novels by contemporary recognized authors, namely Anne Enright, Deirdre Madden, Emma Donoghue e Kerry Hardie (see bibliography). Other authors will be brought into the discussion for a comparative approach.

Discussion will be focused on women’s role and gender related issues, namely on the strategies used by the authors in reconfigurations of the Irish national(ist) identity narrative, as well as of sexualities, (Irish) family and citizenship.

N.B. The syllabus and bibliography may change depending on teaching staff.

Head Lecturer(s)

Manuel José de Freitas Portela

Assessment Methods

Continuous Assessment
Research work: 50.0%
Other: 50.0%

Bibliography

Bebiano, A. (2011). Engendering the Nation: Irish Women and Nationalism. In Mutran,M. H., Izarra, L. P.Z., & Bastos, B. K. X. (Eds.). A Garland of Words. For Maureen O'Rourke Murphy (pp.179-190). S. Paulo: Humanitas.

Bebiano, A. (2009). Da vida das mulheres infames. A história segundo Emma Donoghue. Anglo-Saxónica, II. 27, 7-32.

Blunt, A. & Rose G. (eds.) (1994). Writing Women and Space. Colonial and Postcolonial Geographies. NY and London: The Guildford Press.

Bourke, A. et al (Ed.). (2005). The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. Volumes IV & V: Irish Women’s Writing and Traditions. Cork: Cork University Press.

Coughlan, P. & O’Toole, T. (2008). Irish Literature: Feminist Perspectives. Dublin: Carysfort Press.

Ferriter, D. (2009). Occasions of Sin. Sex and Society in Modern Ireland. London: Profile Books.