IRISH-AMERICAN LITERATURE

English 250Q

Description

In a study of Irish-America, Andrew Greeley relates the story of a colleague who visited the Office of Education seeking funding for a summer program in Irish studies. The bureaucrat listened for over an hour, and when the colleague asked why there was funding for other ethnic experiences but not Irish, the bureaucrat finally exclaimed, "The Irish don't count!" As Greeley adds, "Everyone knows everything worth knowing about [the Irish] and they don't count anymore, anyhow, cause they are nothing more than lower-middle-class WASPs." In this class Irish-Americans, their literature and culture, will indeed count as we consider issues such as emigration, assimilation, identity, politics, etc.

Syllabus

M--1/25--Introduction

M–2/1--Critical Review

M--2/8–Mary Doyle Curran, The Parish and the Hill (1948)

M--2/15–FURLOUGH*

M--2/22–James T. Farrell, Studs Lonigan ("Young Studs") (1932)

M–3/1–Maureen Howard, Bridgeport Bus (1965)

M--3/8–Mary Gordon, The Other Side (1989) (book unavailable in campus bookstore; order online--many copies @ amazon.com)

M--3/15–FURLOUGH*

M--3/22--Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey Into Night (1940)

M–3/29--SPRING BREAK

M 4/5–O'Neill, A Moon for the Misbegotten (free etext)

M--4/12–Alice McDermott, At Weddings and Wakes (1992)

M--4/19–William Kennedy, Very Old Bones (1992)

M--4/26–J. P. Donleavy, The Ginger Man (1955) PRECIS DUE

M–5/3–F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)

M–5/10–The Brothers McMullen FINAL EXAM DUE

*FURLOUGHS--As part of the state's attempts to balance its budget, furloughs have been imposed on all faculty and staff for the academic year 2009-10. I have noted those dates when we will not hold class, and there are other non-instructional days during which I am also furloughed. Under the terms established by the university and the state, I am not allowed to conduct university business; therefore, I will not be available to teach, to hold office visits, nor to respond to phone calls or emails. These furlough conditions are out of my hands; if you have objections, I recommend you address them to the proper authorities--Gov. Schwarzenegger, your representatives in the California Senate and Assembly, and Charles Reed, Chancellor of the CSU.

Are you curious why your fees have increased so much--it's because of declining state funding

GRADING

The final course grade will be based on:

*To miss any of the assignments above will result in an automatic failure of the course. NO EXCEPTIONS.

MECHANICS OF THE COURSE

SEMINAR PAPERS--for each novel there will be a pair of essays (5-6 pages in length) submitted on the same topic. These essays will form the basis of class discussion. Writers must keep in mind that their assignment, in every case, is to present a reasoned, well-documented, analytical, argumentative response to the topic assigned. In other words, the essays are not simply plot summaries but may indeed include some limited summary in order to make their cases. Keep in mind that your audience is one that has read the novel but that needs persuading of your point of view. These assignments are not exercises in literary research; the concern here is with the exposition of an individual point of view. If you do use the words or ideas of someone else, be sure to document accurately according to the recent MLA style of citation reference. As stated above, papers will be submitted a week before they will be discussed. Writers must submit the original and anonymous photocopies for all other students in the class.

SEMINAR RESPONDENTS--just as there will be two essays under consideration for each meeting, there will be at least two volunteers to lead discussion for that meeting. The respondents should consider the essays submitted, respond to issues and ideas presented there, raise any pertinent questions, as well as discuss or pose questions regarding other relevant issues suggested by or even ignored by the essays. The essays offer a place to begin, but they are by no means all that will be discussed. Respondents must type their questions up and bring copies for the professor and all members of the class.

CRITICAL PRECIS--on a first-come-first-served basis, students will select a critical text from a distributed list. Students must read the work and then summarize its main ideas, contents, critical position, bibliographic information, etc. in two double-spaced pages only. The point of this assignment is to describe the work briefly for someone who is probably unfamiliar with it. Submit the original and photocopies for all other students. Thus each student will have a brief, carefully annotated bibliography of secondary sources for further reading or research.

TOPICS

CURRAN: Emigration has become an unfortunate fact of Irish life. Trance and analyze the range and types of emigration detailed in The Parish and the Hill. [Due 2/3]

FARRELL: James T. Farrell is often described as a premier American naturalist and a writer who dedicated much of his work to his native Chicago. At the time the Studs Lonigan takes place, Chicago had grown from a slimy slaughter yard to a vital metropolis. Examine Farrell's depiction of the urban landscape and consider how space operates in the novel and perhaps reinforces Stud's ethnic condition. [Due 2/8]

HOWARD: Analyze the novel as a bildungsroman; however, consider two important components foregrounded in Bridgeport Bus: gender and ethnicity. What changes or implications do Mary Agnes Keely's gender and ethnic identity add to this "apprentice novel?" [Due 2/22]

GORDON: Leo Tolstoy opens Anna Karenina with the famous line, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Indeed, the MacNamaras in Mary Gordon's The Other Side are uniformly cursed with unhappiness, but why? The novel is a family chronicle about Irish-Americans; explain this unhappiness in terms of family and ethnicity. [Due 3/1]

O'NEILL: Scholars have debated the fog imagery in Long Day's Journey into Night usually emphasizing Mary's drug-taking. Analyze that imagery in terms of Irish-American traits and the condition of the Tyrone's as representatives of that ethnic group. [Due 3/8]

O'NEILL: The Moon for the Misbegotten emphasizes even more than Long Day's Journey Irish-American ethnicity. However, some have argued that O'Neill is trading in stereotypes, reproducing the traditional stage Irishman. Argue how O'Neill uses distinctly Irish traits and explain to what ends. [Due 3/22]

McDERMOTT: In her book Irish America: Coming into Clover, Maureen Dezel remarks that Irish-Americans are "fighters of heart who assume much of life is predestined." Analyze the sense of fate that defines the lives of the characters in Alice McDermott's At Weddings and Wakes. [Due 4/5]

KENNEDY: Analyze the significance of the Malachi McIlhenny story in Very Old Bones. Indeed, it is an inspiration for Peter's art, but it suggests much more. Consider in terms both for the Phelan family but for Irish-Americans in general. [Due 4/12]

DONLEAVY: One way to read The Ginger Man is as an adult fairy tale (a point of view encouraged by the novel's title). Analyze the novel as a distinctly Irish fairy tale–what does it suggest about Irish and Irish-American dreams and aspirations? [Due 4/19]

FITZGERALD: The Great Gatsby is a major American novel, which reveals a great deal about American culture, and certainly one of the major critical preoccupations with the work is its depiction of the American dream. Consider the novel, however, as a distinctly Irish-American fiction; what does it reveal about this ethnic group and its role in and accommodations to American culture? [Due 4/26]

STUDY QUESTIONS TO CRITICAL ARTICLES

"Historical Background"–Andrew M. Greeley (PDF Version)

1.) Who were the Anglo-Irish; what does this name signify?

2.) What does Greeley mean when he writes that "the Irish question was, of course, insoluble"? Are not social and political problems ultimately human-made and therefore subject to solutions?

3.) What exactly were the Penal Laws?

4.) Who are the Scots-Irish?

5.) The Great Famine of the nineteenth-century has been called a watershed event for the Irish. Explain why.

"'I Can't Stand Your Books': A Writer Goes Home," Mary Gordon (PDF Version)

1.) What is Gordon's thesis; explain her central idea.

2.) Explain the importance of the frequent Irish refrain, "Who do you think you are?"

3.) Gordon argues that there are relatively few Irish-American writers. Why, if this is true, does she say there are so few?

4.) If the latter is true, why do writers like Gordon devote their attention to them?

"That Much Credit: Irish-American Identity and Writing," Shaun O'Connell (PDF Version)

1.) Who are the Irish-American in O'Connell's view; how can we identify them?

2.) Explain the notion of the Irish in America "pass[ing] for white."

3.) O'Connell looks closely at two memoirs by James Carroll and Michael Patrick MacDonald. What profile of Irish-America emerges from these?

4.) How does the average Irish-American view the homeland?

"Unappealing Ethnicity Meets Unwelcoming America: Immigrant Self-fashioning in Mary Gordon's Temporary Shelter," June Dwyer (PDF Version)

1.) Explain the notion of the "composite self."

2.) Dwyer chooses three stories by Mary Gordon to construct aspects ot e Irish-American character. What are some of these aspects?

3.) Explain the essay's title. What does Dwyer mean by saying, "all ethnicities are not equally benign"?

"Cherishing the Irish Diaspora; On a Matter of Public Importance: An Address to the House of Oireachtas," Mary Robinson (PDF Version)

1.) What is Robinson's thesis; what does she advocate?

2.) On p. 5 she asserts that "commemoration is a moral act, just as this relation in this country to those who have left it is a moral relationship." Explain this concept and its implications.

3.) Why should native Irish embrace members of the Irish diaspora?

4.) Explain the importance of the emblem of the "light in the window."

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR NOVELS

The Parish and the Hill

1.) Catherine Ward, in a study of Irish-American novels by women, says about The Parish and the Hill, "The pain it expresses is not creative. All the characters are victims who never achieve a positive or productive way of life. They endure but they do not prevail. . . . Mrs. O'Connor's rebellions against prejudice and poverty are superficial and inadequate. Beneath her independent spirit lies a deeper resignation that accepts the suffering and rejection that life brings her." Consider these remarks; how legitimate do you find them?

2.) The word "Olagon" appears early in the novel and then becomes the title for the final chapter. What is suggested by the use of this term?

3.) Analyze the dream at the novel's close. What is suggested by this?

Studs Lonigan

1.) Account for all the racist and bigoted language in this novel. What is the point; is this simply the author's opportunity to vent his own hatreds?

2.) Consider the narrative point of view; what is this, what is the novel suggesting by this narrative posture?

3.) Consider "Young Lonigan" as an example of a bildungroman, in this case an Irish-American bildungsroman.

Bridgeport Bus

1.) What is the point of the Lydia Savaard's story?

2.) What is the point of the Sherry Henderson's story?

3.) What is the point of the final chapter, especially the italicized sections attributed to Lydia?

4.) Explain the novel's title.

The Other Side

1.) Explain the image of buzzing that runs throughout the novel. What does this suggest; how is it important?

2.) Examine the novel's structure. How is it put together, what techniques is Gordon employing, what is the point of these?

3.) Consider the novel's title; what is its significance?

4.) Consider the novel's marriages and amorous attachments. What can we conclude from these?

Long Day's Journey into Night

1.) Explain the play's title.

2.) Analyze the role that memory plays.

3.) If approached as a parable of assimilation, what does the play reveal?

A Moon for the Misbegotten

1.) Analyze the Hogan/Harder incident in Act I for its significance.

2.) Some have described this odd play as a search for an elusive "truth"; what truth do you think this may be.

3.) Consider the play in the context of Irish lamentation. Who is lamenting, for what, and why?

At Weddings and Wakes

1.) Examine the narrative point of view and the fact that the children remain unnamed until well into the novel.

2.) Consider the novel as a bildungsroman. What is McDermott doing with the form?

3.) There are frequent references to Roman Catholicism and issues of faith. What is the function of religion in the novel?

4.) Explain the novel's title.

Very Old Bones

1.) Consider the novel's fractured narrative structure; what is the point; why not relate in a more straightforward fashion?

2.) Explain the title--what are the "very old bones"?

3.) What significance is there in the fact that Peter and Orson are both creative figures?

The Ginger Man

1.) Consider the novel as a modern example of the picaresque.

2.) Explain the persistent use of tooth imagery.

3.) Analyze the novel for its mythic dimensions.

The Great Gatsby

1.) Nick is often described as a figure of contradictory or divided features. Account for these binarisms.

2.) What does Gatsby's heritage have to do with the novel?

3.) Explain the meaning of the novel's title–what's so great about Gatsby?

PDF copy of syllabus available here.

PDF copy of Precis list here

PDF of sample Precis here

American & Irish (or who woulda thunk?)

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