(En)Gendering Revolution: Literature of the Irish Fight for Independence

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

British colonization of Ireland (the only European nation to be colonized by a European imperial power) spanned centuries - and Irish resistance was equally sustained - by both men and women. The final opening volley launched with the 1916 Easter Rising and independence was achieved with the 1919-21 War of Independence (though challenged with the 1921-22 Civil War). As a newspaper headline proclaims, "Secret exploits of women who were crucial to freedom fight": contrary to misconceptions that they were passive beneficiaries of the Irish fight for independence, women were active in paramilitary organizations like Cumann na mBan, undertook intelligence work, fought alongside Irish men (176 women applied for military pensions for active service performed between 1916 and 1923), and recorded their experiences in journalistic and fictional accounts. This course will survey literary responses (both contemporaneous and retrospective) to the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, and the Civil War as we celebrate the centenary of the events leading to the founding of the Irish Republic. As we engage with close textual readings, our prime focus will be on parsing out gendered differences in ways that men and women fought for Ireland as well as in how they describe the fight. No prior knowledge of Irish history is presumed.