In light of local and global imperatives to decolonise, contemporary Irish and Scottish literature offers a particular insight into questions of the postcolonial, anticolonial, semicolonial and internally colonial as they are mobilised critically and aesthetically. Through literary, theoretical and cultural texts, students will engage comparatively with the specificities of post-1945 literature of the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland. We will consider how the resistances they offer may be connected and contextualised against their shared and divergent constitutional situations and, beyond this, reflect on the formation of Irish and Scottish literature as a disciplinary field now and in the future.

1 x 2hr seminar each week over ten weeks as scheduled on MyCampus.

ENGLIT3005 Irish and Scottish Literature post 1900 Level 3

The standard assessments for this course are: 

■ Critical exercise (1000 words): 25%  

■ Essay (3000 words): 60% 

■ Group [paired] presentation of 7-10 minutes [graded individually]: 15% 

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available: 

■ There are no alternatives to the Critical exercise (1000 words) but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions). 

■ There are no alternatives to the Essay (3000 words), but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions). 

■ Recorded presentation or One-to-one presentation / discussion/Q&A with staff (where presentation would normally be in class) as alternative to presentation.

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.  

This course aims to:

■ Familiarise students with Irish and Scottish literature in the contemporary period;

■ Enable students to understand how this literature has been shaped by the historical power structures out of which it is produced;

■ Encourage students to critically engage with questions of form, representation, and language;

■ Consider literary texts in relation to theoretical, cultural and historical contexts.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Situate Irish and Scottish literature of the period within a critically and historically informed comparative framework;

■ Discern connections and contrasts between specific literatures and texts in a nuanced and culturally informed manner; 

■ Evaluate a range of texts within a framework of colonial legacies and ongoing constitutional change across the period 1945-present;

■ Deal with new challenges by applying disciplinary skills and knowledge to previously unfamiliar research areas and questions;

■ Demonstrate resilience and time management through effectively planning, undertaking and submitting coursework, and coherently frame arguments in both oral and written form.