Subject Area: English

For a small country, Ireland has produced a large number of major writers during the twentieth century. Perhaps the three most significant are W.B. Yeats, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. This course introduces students to these writers through attention to key cultural and historical issues in Ireland, including the Irish Revival and the struggle for Irish independence; the colonial and post-colonial relationship to Britain; the impulse to renovate and experiment with inherited forms and genres; and the crises of international modernity. Despite the fundamental differences between these three writers, and indeed reactions from one to the other, their work expresses their cultural and historical context in revelatory ways. All three have a reputation for 'difficulty', but their contribution to poetry, fiction and drama has been revolutionary. This course seeks to enhance students' critical engagement with these three major modernist writers through a combination of cultural history and close textual and formal analysis.

It will be offered in the summer term and will be taught through a combination of lectures and seminars. It will be assessed through a combination of assessed essay and examination.