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second YEAR ENGLISH
SEMINAR COURSES
All Second Year students of English MUST register for a Seminar at the beginning of each Semester with the English Department.
NOTE FOR IRISH STUDENTS ONLY:
Seminar Registration, Semester 2 2012-13:
Seminar Registration Forms will be available in the Department on Tuesday, January 8th.
Students must complete their seminar registation form fully and return to the Essay Box in the English Department by 12 NOON sharp on Thursday, 10th January. Seminar choices will NOT be accepted by email or fax under any circumstances.
LATE REGISTRATION FOR 2BA SEMINARS
Late Registration for 2BA Seminars will take place on Wednesday, Jan 16th, from 12noon to 1pm, in TB306, Floor 1, Tower 2. A late registration charge of €5 will apply.
PLEASE NOTE: NOT ALL LISTED SEMINARS ARE AVAILABLE IN BOTH SEMESTERS
THE LIST OF SEMINARS BELOW ARE FOR 2012/13.
Seminar times and venues may change. Seminars begin on Monday, 21st January.
Old English is an exciting and beautiful language. Apart from being an invaluable object of study to those with an interest in etymology, it is the vehicle for some of the most challenging and captivating literature you will ever read. This course will provide you with a thorough introduction to learning to read Old English without painful memorisation! We’ll think about many important theoretical issues related to engagement with the language and its texts, and we’ll explore the culture of the Anglo-Saxon people. Texts: Mitchell and Robinson,
A Guide to Old English.
Time:Tuesday 9-11 Room 306 Tower 1 (Semester 1), Monday 1-3 AM112 Arts Millennium Building (Semester 2)
ENG205 Old English I- Introduction to Language and Reading
Assessment: Weekly assignments 30% (five assigned, best three chosen); Essays 70% (two short translations assigned, worth 35% each).
Available: Semester One and Semester Two
| ENG207 Nineteenth Century Writing |
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1. Mr Paul Rooney Charles Dickens was one of the most influential and widely read writers of the nineteenth century. This seminar will examine his early output, his part issue ’condition of England’ novels, his journalism, and his more sensational later work. Our discussion will explore Dickens’s creative strategies, the serial and the dual textual-visual reading experience of his nineteenth century audiences, and the relationship of his writing to its socio-cultural context. We will also consider Dickens’s parallel identity as a journalist with particular focus on his 1850-59 contributions to the magazine, Household Words. We will also use theories of adaptation to evaluate the modern journey of Dickens’s novels to film and television. Texts: Oliver Twist (1837-8), Little Dorrit (1855-57), and A Tale of Two Cities (1859). Students should purchase the Oxford World’s Classics editions Assessment: 30% continuous assessment (class presentation: 15% and short essay: 15%) and 70% final essay.
2. Mr Paul Rooney
Time: Friday 9-11 Room 302 Tower 1
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| ENG209 Alternative Textualities |
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This course will examine key works of electronic literature as well as experimental print forms to interrogate the degree to which our notion of ’the literary’ has in fact conditioned by the medium of print. How, for example, might sound/images and ’the social’ feature in a redefinition of the literary, if at all? What might a text generated by algorithm mean for our understanding of the role of an author? What problems are inherent to the lack of canonicity of the genre? Geopolitical issues of translation, privacy, the ’digital divide’ and the problem of ’planned obsolescence’ will also be explored in class. Texts include: Edward Abbot's Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884); Samuel Beckett 'Krapp's Last Tape' (1957); J. Yellowlees Douglas I Have Said Nothing (1996); Brian Kim Stefans The Dreamlife of Letters (2000); N. Katherine Hayle's Writing Machines (2001). Assessment: Assessment: 30% group project, 70% Essay (theoretical piece and/or portfolio). Seminar Leader: Ms. Ciara Griffin
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| EN278 Milton's Poetry | |
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1. Marie-Louise Coolahan This course focuses on John Milton’s biblical epic, Paradise Lost. Composed during the Restoration period by a committed (and defeated) republican, the poem tells the story of Adam and Eve, their fall from Eden, and the conflict between Satan and God. The seminar’s primary aim is to facilitate a close reading of Milton’s poem while also referring to seminal critical interpretations. We will explore the poem’s treatment of character and motivation, good and evil, free will, gender, republicanism, and literary epic. For the purposes of comparison, we will consider extracts from the King James Bible and Lucy Hutchinson’s contemporary poem, Order and Disorder. Assessment: two short writing exercises (10%), class presentation (15%), participation (5%), final essay (70%).
2. Dr. Rebecca Barr This course focuses on John Milton’s biblical epic, Paradise Lost. Milton’s poem tells the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, their exile from Eden, and Satan’s war against God himself. Written in the aftermath of the English Civil War, Paradise Lost is an epic that explores the themes of free will, gender, obedience and defiance, republicanism, and the nature of good and evil. The seminar aims to facilitate a close reading of Milton’s poem and its themes, while introducing students to seminal critical interpretations and controversies. In the final classes we will consider responses to Milton’s poetry from the eighteenth century to the present. Text: John Milton: The Major Works, ed. Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) Assessment: one writing exercise (10%), class presentation (15%), participation (5%), final essay (70%).
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ENG213 Film Studies | |
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This seminar is an introduction to film studies. Students will learn new ways of watching, understanding and thinking about films; in other words how to ’read’ a film. The films (or texts) for the course are all Irish, chosen because they share certain thematic characteristics but also differ from each other in significant ways. The films will be: Flight of the Doves (1971), Into the West (1992), Kisses (2008), and some short films. During the semester, students will view and analyse these films, and learn to write about film in an academic context. Assessment: 3 short assignments (10% each) and 1 essay (70%). Seminar Leader: Dr Fiona Bateman
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| EN284 Creative Writing | |
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1. Mr. Conor Montague Writing for Performance – An Introduction This workshop-based seminar will introduce basic concepts and aspects of writing for performance. Practical exercises will be undertaken both independently and collaboratively, to include performance, discussion and critique of one another’s work. The collective focus will be on creating an environment of candid openness, constructive criticism and creative encouragement in which a wide variety of writing projects can be explored and developed. The individual focus will be to explore the possibilities of theatre as a medium/means of expression, though students will have the option to write for performance outside of theatre should they so wish, for example, stand-up comedy or performance poetry. By the end of semester students will have conceived, explored and developed an idea into a completed script for live performance Assessment: 30% continuous assessment and 70% for final project.
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| EN287 Renaissance Drama | |
2. Dr. Dermot Burns Shakespeare in Love
Assessment: two short essays (15% each) - 30%, one final in-class essay (70%)
Available: Semester One and Semester Two | |
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| EN296 Shakespeare's Tragedies | |
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1. Dr. Irina Ruppo We will examine three Shakespearean tragedies and their various interpretations. Some of the questions considered in the course will be the relation between the text and its critic, the connection between tragedy and comedy, and the relevance of Shakespeare's plays to present day social issues. Texts:
King Lear,
Romeo and Juliet,
Hamlet
(or
Othello).
2. Ms. Hazel Gilchrist Taking four of Shakespeare’s Tragedies, this course will investigate the contemporary and current relevance and function of these plays in particular and of Tragedy in general. The central themes or concerns addressed by these works will be identified and explored through in-class discussions and presentations. This investigation will be continued by considering the capacity of these plays to not only reflect, play out, and play with the concerns of the specific era from which they emerged, but also as continuing to offer a means of reflecting upon and responding to these issues as ongoing and/or universal. Texts: William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, and King Lear . Assessment: 30% class assignments, 70% final essay.
3. Ms Siobhan O'Gorman
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| EN298 Spenser: The Faerie Queene |
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This course involves an intensive reading of Books I and 2 of Edmund Spenser's great poem, The Faerie Queene. Along the way theories of allegory, narratology and influence will be raised, as will the historical, biographical and political contexts for the poem. We will also consider Spenser's sources, including Ariosto, Virgil and Aristotle.Text: Edmund Spenser, The Faeri e Queene, ed. A. C. Hamilton, rev. ed. (Longman, 2007). Assessment: 30% continuous assessment (4 short written assignments: 20% (i.e. 4 x 5%); one panel discussion: 5%, one debate: 5%) and one long end-of-term essay: 70%. Seminar Leader: Dr. Cliodhna Carney
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| EN299 Film and Shakespeare |
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The cultural context in which Shakespeare’s tragedies were first produced will be used as a starting point from which to evaluate Shakespeare’s place in contemporary popular culture. Four plays will be examined alongside recent film adaptations by way of interrogating the structural, textual and cultural issues attached to any presentation of Shakespeare’s work. We will also consider the space that exists between tragedy and comedy, with attention given to the way the tragedies on the course have been utilised to varying degrees by writers on shows such as The Simpsons and other comedy productions. Primary sources will include Romeo and Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996), Macbeth(Roman Polanski, 1971), Hamlet (David Doran, 2008), and King Lear (Trevor Nunn, 2008). Assessment: Two short writing assignments 20%, in-class presentation 10%, and final essay 70%.
Seminar Leader: Mr. Conor Montague
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| EN422 Early American Writing |
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This course examines 17th and 18th century writing about the United States. Texts include selections from colonial histories, captivity narratives, and travel journals as well as poetry by Phillis Wheatley and Royall Tyler's play The Contrast. Assessment: Presentation and weekly writing exercises (30%) and 2 essays (35% each).
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| ENG215 Literature of North America | ||||
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This seminar explores a selection of novels by Cormac McCarthy, engaging in close readings of the texts and exploring their aesthetic, ethical and metaphysical dimensions. Issues covered include: violence and the problem of evil; the role of frontier mythology in American self-identity; nature, naturalism and science as they relate to the metaphysics of fictional worlds and characters situated within them; determinism and free will; the relationship between a literary style and its content. The following Cormac McCarthy novels are required reading: Child of God (1973), Blood Meridian (1985), All the Pretty Horses (1992), The Road (2006). Assessment
: 30% continuous assessment (participation, class presentation and brief written assignments); 70% final essay.
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| EN425 Shakespearean Comedies | ||||
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1. Ms. Kirry O’Brien This seminar will examine, in detail, some examples of Shakespearean Comedy. Shakespeare’s comedies end in marriage: however, many trials and obstacles have to be overcome along the way. We shall explore the complex issues raised on the journey towards a so-called happy ending. Recommended (not obligatory) text: RSC William Shakespeare Complete Works ed. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. Plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Measure For Measure. Assessment: 15% class presentation write up, 15% for a minor essay, and 70% for the final essay.
2. Ms. Kirry O’Brien This seminar will examine, in detail, some examples of Shakespearean Comedy. Shakespeare’s comedies end in marriage: however, many trials and obstacles have to be overcome along the way. We shall explore the complex issues raised on the journey towards a so-called happy ending. Recommended (not obligatory) text: RSC William Shakespeare Complete Works ed. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. Plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Measure For Measure. Assessment: 15% class presentation write up, 15% for a minor essay, and 70% for the final essay.
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| EN445 Literature of the English Civil War |
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This course examines a range of literature – political pamphlets and petitions, extracts from army debates, poetry, prophecy, and memoir – in order to juxtapose the varied forms of writing inspired by the civil wars of the 1630s and 1640s. We will investigate the explosion of political ideas in the period, which writers referred to as a time when ’the world was turned upside down’. The course explores the expression of opinion across the political spectrum, from republicanism to royalism. It considers questions of gender and authorship, the dissemination of ideas, and competing literary strategies.
Assessment: two short writing exercises (10%), class presentation (15%), participation (5%) and final essay (70%). Seminar Leader: Dr. Marie-Louise Coolahan Time: Tuesday 9-11 TB306 Tower 2 Available: Semester One ONLY |
| ENG218 Medieval Writing |
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This course is a study of the major types of drama in England in the Middle Ages. We consider mystery plays, morality plays, miracle plays and interludes, and we look at the origins of drama, issues of staging, attitudes to drama, and the civic and social importance of the pageants. We pay particular attention to the mystery plays, because it is these plays which provide us with most of our knowledge of medieval drama, and it is from this form that the other forms developed. Each week we consider a theme, and analyse some plays that illustrate that theme. The aim of this course is to give the students an insight into an alternative form of medieval ’literature’. The course considers medieval culture and society, theories of resistance, theology, medieval ideas about the man’s place in the world, and general issues of drama history and staging. During this course the students attempt to adapt a Bible story in the style of a medieval drama, to increase their awareness of how the medieval dramatists adapted their texts, and how they perceived the relevance of these texts to their culture. Texts: The textbook for this course is Greg Walker, ed., Medieval Drama: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000). Assessment: Reflective learning journal (30%); final essay (70%)
Available: Semester One ONLY |
| ENG201 Exploring the Creative Arts |
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This ten-week course aims to offer students of literature and theatre an opportunity to experience complementary art forms, thereby gaining a valuable broader context for their chosen field of study. Thus traditional Irish art forms and contemporary dance will be taught by two leading practitioners with a view to developing a critical understanding of the arts, as forms of cultural expression. The illustrated lectures and performances from the Arts in Action programme will increase opportunity for cultural experience and provide new ways to enrich academic life at NUI Galway. The students will select and attend two events from the Arts in Action programme, which is produced by creative director Mary Mc Partlan for 2011/2012, in traditional Irish arts, film music, theatre and contemporary dance. For Semester 2 2012-13 the two subjects will be Traditional Arts and the History of Contemporary Dance. Students will attend seminars attached to each of the above Arts events. Attendance is compulsory at the two chosen Arts in Action events and at all seminars. The two tutors are: Ronan Browne and Rachel Parry. Assessment: 30% continuous assessment (9 entries in a reflective journal of 200 words and two reviews from Arts in Action events) plus a final essay 70% (1,000 words)
Available: Semester One and Two |
| ENG221 Postcolonial Literature |
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The seminar will be a general introduction to postcolonial literature. We will explore ways in which literature was used to critique, document and oppose colonial (and neo-colonial) power throughout the twentieth century. Themes including nationalism, anti-colonial reistance, decolonization, gender, diaspora and hybridity will be examined through a discussion of four works of fiction. Throughout the course, we will supplement our discussions of the primary texts with important theoretical essays on colonialism/ postcolonialism (posted on Blackboard). The texts will represent postcolonial engagements from South Asia, North America and Ireland.
Course texts:
Assessment: 30% continuous assessment, plus a final essay 70%
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| ENG222 Special Author |
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William Blake In London at the end of the 18th century, an engraver named William Blake began to issue from his own printing press poems and what he called ’prophetic books’ that were revolutionary in appearance, style, and philosophy. In his own time, and for the following centuries, his writings and illustrated visions attracted a devoted and distinguished group of disciples, that include the poets Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Butler Yeats, and Allen Ginsburg. This course will comprise an intensive examination of his poems, prophetic books, and letters. Text: Blake's Poetry and Designs (Norton Critical Edition). Second Edition. [Paperback] William Blake (Author), John E. Grant (Editor), Mary Lynn Johnson (Editor). Assessment: Students write weekly short assignments and choose six of these for assessment purpose: each six is worth 5% (30% in total). Longer written end-of-term assignment; 70%
Available: Semester One and Two |
| ENG223 Special Theme |
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American Drama American Drama is an examination of a representative sample of American drama from its origins to the present day. Little drama of consequence emerged until 1915, so only a brief time will be spent examining the dramatists of the 18th and 19th centuries, and how they laid the groundwork for the plethora of plays that emerged in the 20th and early 21st centuries. The lion's share of our time will be devoted to modern and contemporary American plays. The dramatists whose work will be explored, as historian Don Shiach explains, “hold a mirror up to American life and, in the process, represent American society in all its various strands: its myths, its ideals, its injustices and failures, its aspirations, dreams and politics.” Text: Watt, Stephen and Gary A. Richardson. American Drama: Colonial To Contemporary. London: Heinle and Heinle, 1995. Assessment: 30% continuous assessmen and 70% final essay
Available: Semester One ONLY |
| ENG226 Utopia Studies |
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Coined by Thomas More as a pun on eutopia or “good place” in the 16th century, Utopia is simultaneously that good place and its ironic register. This seminar will provide you with a solid introduction to narrative utopias, both literary and cinematic. Considering the permutations of Utopia since the 1516 publication of More’s Utopia, we will identify and explore central themes and concerns through in-class discussions and presentations. How does a particular utopian text or film reflect the concerns of the historical moment in which it is embedded? Core texts include More’s Utopia, Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, 2000-1887, William Morris’s News from Nowhere, excerpts from The Utopia Reader, and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Assorted essays will be recommended throughout the course. Assessment: 30% continuous assessmen (class participation, short written piece, presentation). 70% final essay
Available: Semester One and Semeser Two |
| ENG219 Modern Irish Drama |
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This seminar explores representations of myth, history, religion and gender in a selection of twentieth-century Irish plays. We will examine how these often intersecting themes and issues relate to national identity and the state. The primary texts are as follows: Cathleen Ní Houlihan by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory; The Playboy of the Western World by J.M. Synge; Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey; Translations by Brian Friel; and The Mai by Marina Carr. Selected secondary readings will also inform our discussions. Drawing on relevant historical, critical and theoretic contexts will enrich our consideration of how Irish drama has constructed, complicated and/or challenged iconic images of Ireland. Texts: Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama ed. John P. Harrington (Norton, 2009, 2nd edition) and The Mai by Marina Carr (Gallery Press, 1995). Assessment: 30% continuous assessment (participation: 15%; class presentation: 15%) and 70% final essay.
Available: Semester One and Semeser Two |
National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
Phone: +353 (0)91 493339; Fax: +353 (0)91 524102
E-mail: English Department
This page was last updated Friday, January 25, 2013