Writing Rebellion

(5 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

'Few would challenge the assertion that violence has played a number of crucial roles in the making of modern Ireland', Danine Farquharson and Sean Farrell remarked several years ago, in Shadows of the Gunmen: Violence and Culture in Modern Ireland. This Option takes this statement as a starting point, and explores the ways that different manifestations of violence - especially rebellion and political violence - have been represented in a diverse body of literary texts. In particular, the Option examines representations of a key period in Irish history, from the Easter Rising of 1916, through the War of Independence of 191-21, to the Civil War of 1922-23. The Option is divided in two parts: the first part (up to Reading Week) explores the work of several writers who participated in and/or lived through that tumultuous period in modern Irish history; the second part (from Week 8 forward) focuses on a selection of texts by recent prose writers. The Option begins with an introductory session on contexts and critical methodologies, and touches on some of W. B. Yeats's contemporary responses to the Rebellion; other critical and contextual material will be introduced as the module develops. The Option also directs students to additional representations of the Irish Rebellion, by visual artists, filmmakers, historians and creative writers.