Irish literature: An Introduction - AAA132005

• Title: Irská literatura - úvod do problematiky
• Form of teaching: seminar
• Guaranteed by: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2025
• Duration in semesters: 1
• Semester: winter
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 3
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:0/2, C [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / 15 (unknown)
• Maximum number of enrolled students: unlimited
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Additional information: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=1124
• Repeated enrollment: 2 / 2 / 2 / 2
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: prof. Mgr. Ondřej Pilný, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): prof. Mgr. Ondřej Pilný, Ph.D.

Annotation

OBJECTIVES
A survey course designed to introduce some of Ireland’s major modern authors and discuss their work in its broader cultural and political context (Irish, Anglophone, and European respectively).

SCHEDULE
5 Oct Introduction
12 Oct James Joyce, “The Dead”
19 Oct J.M. Synge, The Playboy of the Western World
26 Oct W.B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” “The Second Coming”, “Sailing to Byzantium”
2 Nov Frank O’Connor, “Guests of the Nation”; Elizabeth Bowen, “Sunday Afternoon”
9 Nov Patrick Kavanagh, The Great Hunger
16 Nov No class (Humanities Week)
23 Nov Flann O’Brien, The Third Policeman
30 Nov Samuel Beckett, All That Fall
7 Dec Seamus Heaney, “North,” “Punishment,” “Strange Fruit”
14 Dec Christina Reid, Tea in a China Cup
4 Jan Marina Carr, By the Bog of Cats




ASSIGNED QUESTIONS: SEE THE COURSE SYLLABUS ON MOODLE

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY: SEE THE COURSE SYLLABUS ON MOODLE

ASSESSMENT
Credit requirements consist of the following:
1) Regular attendance and active participation in debates based on the assigned reading.
2) Submission of a written response to the assigned questions on a week-to-week basis. The response must be submitted to the course instructor as an email attachment in MS Word or .odt format by the Friday preceding the class session (14:00); the minimum length of the response for each session is 250 words.
3) Submission of a final essay (min. length 2 000 words, Notes and Bibliography Chicago style strictly required). Essay topics must be consulted with the instructor in advance. Students are advised not to use Internet sources in place of adequately researching texts available in print or in academic digital libraries. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in a fail grade. The use of AI in writing the essay is prohibited. Should any suspicion of AI use arise, the student will have to attend an in-person discussion with the course instructor before the credit is awarded. Essays are submitted by e-mail to the course instructor (as an MS Word/Open Office document). Deadline for all essays: 20 January 2027.

Last update: Pilný Ondřej, prof. Mgr., Ph.D. (10.09.2026)