Irish Women Writers

3 units

Giving close attention to the social, political, and particularly post-colonial and feminist contexts of these authors, we will read the works of such writers as Maria Edgeworth, Lady Morgan, Lady Gregory, Elizabeth Bowen, Kate O'Brien, Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, Edna O'Brien, Eavan Boland, Medbh McGuckian, and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill. We will consider the ways in which the Irish situation may prove problematic for now standard post-colonial and feminist paradigms and in particular the ways in which the innovative Irish woman writer makes of this necessity a creative strength. Please note that Ni Chuilleanain will be reading poetry on campus this spring.