Celtic R1B, Section 1: Voices of the Celtic World: Irish Drama in a Comparative Context
4 units
87 Dwinelle
MWF 1-2
Thomas Walsh
This course satisfies the second half or the “B” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement for the Bachelor’s Degree.
The primary focus of this course is the improvement of your writing. Since R1B is an intensive college writing course, issues of development and style are presented at an advanced level. Further, students are to receive attention to their writing through detailed comments on their essays and through discussion in class and during office hours.
Your writing for this course will analyze and interpret significant dramatic and poetic texts from Ireland and Greece. The reason for this pairing has to do with the Irish dramatists’ engagement with material from ancient Greece, as well as with singular place of Greek drama in the universe of theatrical performance. Thus, we will read Irish dramatic texts alongside some Greek tragedies in order to explore and come to terms with how dramatic literature works. Of importance to our reading are: 1.) the development of Irish drama in its historical context; 2.) The development of Greek drama; 3.) the place of Irish drama as a response to Greek drama; and 4.) the dramatic artistry of the plays themselves. Of special interest to our reading will be the way that varieties of performance can be read out of a single script.
Our topics will include: politics, education, selfhood, lying, and representation.
Your work in 1B includes a library research project developed during the term with the assistance of UC librarians. This project will be the “capstone” to your essays on the plays that we will read.
Required Texts:
Diane Hacker and Nancy Sommers. A Pocket Style Manual. 7th ed. Bedford/St. Martins. ISBN-10: 0-312-542542.
John P. Harrington, ed. Modern Irish Drama (Norton Critical Editions). 2nd ed. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. ISBN-978-0-393-93243-0.
Seamus Heaney. The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles’ Antigone. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2004. 10: 0-374-11721-7.
—–. The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles’ Philoctetes. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1991. ISBN -374-52289-8.
Slavitt, D. (ed.) Aristophanes 3: Suits, Clouds, Birds. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780812216981
COURSE-READER: Material will be posted on b-Courses as well as in handouts distributed in class. Please discuss any problems in acquiring the texts with the instructor.
PLEASE NOTE: Only the above editions and translations will be used in this course. Other editions and translations are not acceptable.
Student Work and Assessment: There will be approximately 25-30 pages of formal writing including drafts, abstracts, and proposals. Due dates to be scheduled.
Grading: A formal grading rubric will be handed out early in the term. The overall grade for the course includes participation, attendance, research presentation, etc. Your overall grade will not be lower than the average of your writing grades.
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.
Celtic R1B, Section 2: 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.
Celtic 15: Elementary Modern Irish
4 units
130 Dwinelle
TuTh 3:30-5
Thomas Walsh
This is a beginner’s course. The goal of this course is proficiency in beginning Irish. To that end, we work at a reasonable but solid pace through Ó Dónaill’s book. We will supplement this work with a workbook, Progress in Irish. Students will learn about the history of the language and the basics of Irish grammar. Emphasis will be on pronunciation, and the acquisition of basic vocabulary and idioms. Our highest priority is for students to develop their ability to understand, speak, read and write the language. Simple written stories and conversations in Irish will supplement classroom oral-aural work.
Class activities will include conversation and discussion of homework in Irish. At the end of the course students should be able to carry on a basic conversation in Irish, as they use the unique idioms of the language; in addition we will practice reading and writing basic poetry and prose.
Student assignments will include regular homework assignments, quizzes, a midterm, and a final.
Texts:
Gaeilge gan Stró! Beginners Level: A Multimedia Irish Language Course for Adults (English and Irish Edition) by Éamonn Ó Dónaill ISBN-10: 0956361447; ISBN-13: 978-0956361448.
Progress in Irish by Máiréad Ní Ghráda. Edco, The Educational Company of Ireland. ISBN-13: 978-0861671595; ISBN-10: 0861671597.
Other materials available on b-courses and in handouts.
Prerequisites: None.
Celtic 70: The World of the Celts
4 units
109 Dwinelle
TuTh 9:30-11
Daniel Melia
L&S Breadth: Historical Studies OR Social and Behavioral Sciences
Did the Druids really burn people in giant wicker statues? Did they worship a mother goddess? Did they worship trees? Did the Celts build Stonehenge? Was Britain Rome’s Vietnam? Who are the Celts anyway (or were they Kelts?) Who was King Arthur (was there really a King Arthur?)
Celtic Studies 70 is designed to allow you to be able to answer these and other questions about the Celtic world of the past and the present. The course will present an overview of the history of the Celtic speaking peoples from Indo European times to the present concentrating particularly on questions of assessing evidence. How are we to interpret Roman or Greek views of the Celts? How do we know about languages of which there are no written records? We will discuss the extent to which Celtic culture can be seen as a unitary phenomenon at various periods. The course will cover what we know and what we may be able to reconstruct of Celtic belief systems and social structure. For the later historical period we will discuss Celtic tribal migration, cultural absorption, and linguistic fragmentation.
Course requirements:
3 short quizzes in class; 1 group report in class; 1 final 3 hour examination
Reading:
Caesar, Julius, Seven Commentaries on The Gallic War
With an Eighth Commentary by Aulus Hirtius,
Translated with Introduction and Notes by Carolyn Hammond
Oxford University Press, ISBN: 0192835823
James, Simon, The World of the Celts; Thames & Hudson; 3rd edition (October 1, 2005), ISBN-10: 0500279985; ISBN-13: 978-0500279984
Koch, John, The Celtic Heroic Age, Celtic Studies Publications,1997, 4th edition, August 2003, ISBN 1891271091. Order from Oxbow Books/David Brown: www.oxbowbooks.com
Kinsella, Thomas, The Tain, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 0192803735 Nov 2002
Prerequisites: None.
Celtic 128: Medieval Celtic Cultures
4 units
206 Dwinelle
MWF 10-11
Annalee Rejhon
L&S Breadth: Historical Studies OR Social & Behavioral Sciences
A study of medieval Celtic culture as it is reflected in Irish and Welsh texts ranging from literary works to law tracts and historical chronicles. The course examines the sweep of medieval Celtic culture, beginning with its pre-history and extending to the thirteenth century, but with a focus on the last centuries of that time frame; it will examine how Celtic culture fared in the face of Anglo-Norman incursions and will briefly study how Celtic material became a major source for European literature. The works for Irish include the pseudo-historical Book of Invasions, the Testimony of Morann, the Bee Laws, tales from the Finn Cycle, and Gerald of Wales’ History and Topography of Ireland. For Wales, texts include the Gododdin, Culhwch and Olwen, the Chronicle of the Princes (extracts), the Laws of Hywel Dda, and Gerald of Wales’ Description of Wales. Irish, Welsh, and Norse versions of the Tristan legend will also be read. All texts will be available in English translation.
Course requirements include a midterm and final examination.
Texts:
Jarman, A.O.H. Aneirin: Y Gododdin. Llandysul, Dyfed: Gomer Press, 1988. ISBN-13: 9780863833540
Jenkins, Dafydd, ed. & tr. The Law of Hywel Dda. Llandysul, Dyfed: Gomer Press, 1990. ISBN-13: 9780863832772
Ford, Patrick, tr. The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univ. of Calif. Press, 1977. ISBN-13: 9780520253964
Thorpe, Lewis, tr. Gerald of Wales: The Journey through Wales/The Description of Wales. New York: Penguin Books, 1978. ISBN-13: 9780140443394
O’Meara, John J., tr. Gerald of Wales: The History & Topography of Ireland. New York: Penguin Books, 1982. ISBN-13: 9780140444230
In addition to the books, two Readers will be available for purchase at Copy Central. TBA
Prerequisites: None.
Celtic 144A: Modern Welsh Level III
4 units
6307 Dwinelle
MW 3-4:30
Kathryn Klar
This is a continuation of Celtic Studies 16 and 86. Advanced grammatical concepts are introduced and vocabulary building (especially idioms) is emphasized. Students read materials such as magazines, newspapers, catalogs, and popular novels.
Texts: To be announced by the instructor at a later date. Students will be required to purchase texts from an online source.
Prerequisites: Celtic Studies 86; consent of instructor.
Celtic 168: Celtic Mythology and Oral Tradition
4 units
182 Dwinelle
TuTh 11-12:30
Annalee Rejhon
L&S Breadth: Philosophy & Values OR Arts & Literature
The course will examine the mythology of the Celts—their gods, goddesses, festivals, and belief systems—as it is reflected in medieval Irish and Welsh texts. Following a short presentation of introductory material regarding the history and civilization of the early Celts, the course will begin with the early Irish tale known as The Second Battle of Maige Tuired, a core mythological tale that best exemplifies the pattern of mythological deities and belief systems that pertain to varying degrees in other Celtic tales. These tales will include in Irish, the Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel, the Tale of Macc Da Thó’s Pig, Bricriu’s Feast, the Wooing of Etaín, the Dream of Oengus, the Wasting Sickness of CúChulaind, the Cattle Raid of Fróech, and the Táin, and in Welsh, the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, Culhwch and Olwen, Lludd and Llefelys, the Tale of Gwion Bach and the Tale of Taliesin, and the poems, “What Man the Gatekeeper” and “The Spoils of the Otherworld.” All the readings are in English translation.
Course requirements include a midterm and final examination.
Prerequisites: none.