Ireland is haunted by its own history: by seven centuries of subjection to the powerful neighboring island across the sea; by the trauma of the great famine of the mid-nineteenth century; by the legacy of political violence that extends from the time of Cromwell to the "Troubles" that have afflicted the North since the 1960s. But that difficult and tangled history is inseparable from an extraordinary cultural flowering, beginning in the eighteenth century and continuing in the present era of European integration. Drawing on historical essays and articles, memoirs, poetry, plays, films, and fiction, this course aims to illuminate the major themes and turning points of Irish history: the first great period of Irish culture in the Middle Ages, the advent of English rule and the rebellions against it in the early modern period; the development of a distinctive Anglo-Irish literary and political culture in the eighteenth century; the causes and consequences of the terrible famine of the mid-nineteenth century; the enormous impact of thee Irish diaspora not only on Irish but also on global history; the development of Irish nationalism; revolution, civil war, and partition; the rise of paramilitary groups and political violence in Northern Ireland since the 1960s; the recent economic boom that has reversed a century and a half of emigration (and, more recently, the traumatic bursting of the financial bubble that accompanied the boom); and the encouraging progress of efforts to resolve the conflict in Northern Ireland. The course combines extensive study of hte broad sweep of modern Irish history with close attention to selected texts and problems.
Week 1: "Island of Saints and Scholars" Tuesday, June 21, 2011
How did Christianity come to Ireland, and how did Irish monks and missionaries preserve and transmit the cultural legacy of the ancient world during the early medieval period?
REQUIRED READING:
The Confessio of Saint Patrick
REQUIRED READING:
Week 2: "Raiders & Invaders: From the Vikings to Cromwell" Tuesday, June 28, 2011
What was the impact of the Viking raids on Ireland, and particularly on Dublin? How did English involvement in Irish affairs begin, intensify during the Elizabethan era, and culminate in the ferocious wars of the seventeenth century?
REQUIRED READING:
John O'Beirne Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, chapters 2-3
Week 3: "United Irishmen? Ireland in the 18th Century" Tuesday, July 5, 2011
What was the effect of the infamous Penal Laws on Irish society during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries? And what were the causes and consequences of the failed rebellion of 1798?
REQUIRED READING:
Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, Chapter 4.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Week 4: "Union and Emancipation" Tuesday, July 12, 2011
What was the impact of union with Great Britain, and how did Irish and English politics interact with each other during the first half of the nineteenth century?
REQUIRED READING:
Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, Chapter 5.
Week 5: "The Great Hunger" Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Anyone who knows anything about Irish history knows something about the terrible famine of the mid-nineteenth century. But what have we learned about this subject from the vast scholarship of recent decades?
REQUIRED READING:
Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, Chapter 6.
Week 6: "Before the Revolution" Tuesday, July 26, 2011
How do we account for the rise and fall of Charles Stewart Parnell, the greatest Irish political leader of the second half of the nineteenth century? And what were the major trends in Irish politics and society during the decades between his death and the Easter Uprising of 1916?
REQUIRED READING:
Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, Chapters 7 & 8.
E. OE. Somerville and Martin Ross, Poisson d'Avril, and James Joyce, The Dead, in Modern Irish Short Stories, ed. Ben Forkner.
Week 7: "War and Civil War: Ireland 1916-1923" Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Who were the rebels of 1916? How did the British response to the rebellion doom British rule in Ireland? And why did the Irish rebellion against the British turn into an Irish civil war?
REQUIRED READING:
Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, Chapter 9.
Week 8: "The New State: Politics and Culture" Tuesday, August 9, 2011
How did politics and society develop in Ireland during the half-century after the achievement of independence? And why did Ireland, with its population of only 5 million (and shrinking, not growing) develop such a distinguished and vibrant literary tradition?
REQUIRED READING:
Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, Chapter 10.
Short stories by Liam O'Flaherty, Sean O'Faolain, Frank O'Connor, Patrick Boyle, Flann O' Brien, Benedict Kiely, and Mary Lavin in Modern Irish Short Stories, ed. Ben Forkner.
Week 9: "Troubles" Tuesday, August 16, 2011
How do we account for the failure of a civil rights movement in Northern Ireland, modeled on the American movement, and why was it succeeded by a recrudescence of political violence?
REQUIRED READING:
Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, Chapter 11.
Short stories by James Plunkett, Aidan Higgins, William Trevor, John McGahern, Edna O'Brien, and Eugene McCabe in Modern Irish Short Stories, ed. Ben Forkner.
Week 10: "Peace" Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Why is it so difficult to put the genie of terrorism back in its bottle? Has the "peace process" succeeded at last? And how do we account for the great economic boom (the Celtic Tiger) of the 1990s, followed by the painful contraction of the Irish economy in the 2000s? What is the outlook for Ireland now?
REQUIRED READING:
Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, Chapter 12.
