Fall 2017: Celtic Studies R1B, Section 2

Reading & Composition: Reading and Writing about Modern Irish Literature

4 units
130 Dwinelle
MWF 3-4
Zachary Johnson

This course satisfies the second half or the “B” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement for the Bachelor’s Degree.

This course aims to further develop your skills of close reading, textual interpretation, and expository writing. Readings of various genres will include W.B. Yeats’s poetry, Oscar Wilde’s essays, selections from James Joyce’s collection of short stories Dubliners, Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, and Anne Enright’s recent Booker Prize-winning novel, The Gathering. We will also be screening Andrea Arnold’s 2009 coming-of-age drama, Fish Tank.

Your final goal will be to produce a research paper (7-10 pages in length), written in stages over the second half of the semester,that tracks a theme or question of your choice across 2-3 of the works listed above. A significant portion of in-class time will be devoted to work-shopping your writing, where you will outline, draft, edit, and revise your papers in consultation with the instructor and in dialogue with your peers. The reading load for this course will average between 40-70 pages per week.

Texts:
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1955) [Grove 978-0-3944-7529-5]
Anne Enright, The Gathering (2007) [Black Cat 978-0-8021-7039-2]
Virginia Tufte, Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style [Graphics 978-0-9613-9218-5]

Course Reader (available at Metro Publishing):
W.B. Yeats; Oscar Wilde; James Joyce, Dubliners (selected stories); Joseph M. Williams and Gregory G. Colomb, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace.

Film:
Andrea Arnold, Fish Tank (2009)

Prerequisite: Successful completion of the “A” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement or its equivalent. Students may not enroll or attend R1B/R5B courses without completing this prerequisite.