Ireland, Literature, and Film
DialogueRing, Ireland Cork, Ireland Dublin, Ireland Paris, France Summer I, 2025
Courses
Explores Irish writers from the nineteenth century through the present. Emphasizes their relationships to contemporary Irish society. Explores the formal traditions of Irish writing as well as the historical, political, and cultural discourses that Irish writing has both helped to shape and within which the writing circulates. As the course takes place in Dublin during the summer term, offers students an opportunity to meet living Irish writers who talk about their relationship to the literary tradition and their own craft. Covers writers such as Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Kate O’Brien, Colm Tóibín, Anne Enright, Paul Murray, Kevin Barry, and Maeve Binchy.
Studies the similarities and differences between literary texts and film versions of those texts or the interrelations between film and literature as a means of cultural expression in a specific country outside the United States. May be repeated without limit.
This program offers students the opportunity to explore Irish culture through film and literature in two places: in Ireland and in Paris, a historic refuge for Irish writers and artists. Ireland has an ancient tradition of literature, music, writing, dance, and sports. Ireland also plays a uniquely important role in Europe as the only country with English as one of its national languages. And Ireland has a long and rich connection with France as a capital of art and culture. First, we will explore Ireland and see that it has one of the youngest and most vibrant populations in Europe. This program will give students the opportunity to connect with the island’s rich past and to explore the energy and creativity of its cutting edge, modern present. Key features of modern contemporary Ireland include the Same-Sex Marriage Referendum that was passed by popular vote in 2015. Since then, Ireland has been a leader in the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights. In 2018, Irish voters turned out to support women and women’s healthcare and repealed its national ban on abortion. Once a nation of emigration, Ireland has over the past twenty years become a nation of immigration, both of workers from across Europe and of asylum seekers from across the globe. The Ireland of today and tomorrow is a diverse and multicultural island. Next we will explore Paris through eyes of Irish writers. Paris was an important site for the famous Irish modernists: Oscar Wilde, John Millington Synge, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett. The city shaped them and they left their mark on the city itself. We will explore the city through their eyes and the international modernist artists that made a name for themselves there.
