Contemporary Literature

Calendar

LEC #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
1	Welcomes, logistical explanations, and a few warm-up exercises.
2	James Joyce, “The Dead.” Not to pre-empt the lead-off persons here, but two questions that nag at me about this story are, “To whom precisely does the title refer?” and “Can this marriage be saved?”
3	James Joyce, “The Dead.”  (cont.)
4	William Butler Yeats
5	William Butler Yeats (cont.)
6	Samuel Beckett
7	Recently an enterprising group undertook the filming of all of Beckett’s stage works. The Literature Section film office owns the set, and we’ll take a look at a few of Smiling Sammy’s shorter works today.
8	Edna O’Brien
9	William Trevor
10	Mary Lavin
11	John McGahern
12	Mary Dorcey Mary Morrissey
13	Roddy Doyle Sara Berkeley	First paper due
14	Brian Friel
15	Brian Friel (cont.)
16	Seamus Heaney
17	Seamus Heaney (cont.)
18	John Montague
19	John Montague (cont.)
20	Eavan Boland Nuala ni Dhomhnaill Paula Meehan
21	Marina Carr	Second paper due
22	Discussion of poetry from The White Page. The lead-off people will have the power / responsibility to select the poem we attend to on that day, and given time others may bring forward their choices.
23	The White Page Discussions (cont.)
24	The White Page Discussions (cont.)
25	The White Page Discussions (cont.)
26	Final Lecture