The Irish Revival. Irish Literature and Culture from the 1890s to the 1920s

Kursbeschreibung / -kommentar

The Irish Revival as a search for cultural and political identity - 'the necessity of de-anglicising Ireland' (Douglas Hyde) - is of exemplary significance for the history of Western Europe. It roughly spans the period between 1880 and 1922, thus covering one of the most productive and dramatic periods in Irish cultural/literary history as well as the formation of an independent Irish state (via the stations of the Easter Rising of 1916, the Anglo-Irish War, and the Irish Civil War). We will begin by looking at Irish nationalism as it was conditioned by Ireland's colonial history, take in subsidiary movements such as the Gaelic Revival/Celtic Revival before moving on to the intensified rediscovery (during the second half of the 19th century) of the indigenous tradition through antiquarianism, the study of folklore and of the Irish language (Standish O'Grady). Of central importance to the cultural revival movement is the quest for a national theatre, which began in 1897 and which led to the establishment of Ireland's world-famous Abbey Theatre in 1904 (William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, John M. Synge, Edward Martyn). A section on the Easter Rising of 1916 and its reflection in literature will take in the wider aspects of politics and military history up to 1922. A final chapter will be dedicated to the commentators, mockers, detractors and parodists of the Irish Renaissance as an important episode in Ireland's cultural history as a whole (e.g. George Moore, James Joyce, Sean O'Casey, Samuel Beckett, Flann O'Brien).
Suggested Reading:
A course bibliography and a semester apparatus will be made available at the beginning of the course. For preparatory reading, see the relevant chapters on the Irish Renaissance in various literary histories available in the university library - e.g., Heinz Kosok, Geschichte der anglo-irischen Literatur. Berlin: Schmidt, 1990; Declan Kiberd, Inventing Ireland. London: Cape, 1995.
Assessment:
Regular and active participation, an expert session and a term paper
2 Kreditpunkte: Expert session and minutes
5 Kreditpunkte: Expert session and exam
7 Kreditpunkte: Expert session and term paper