Anotace
OBJECTIVES
In both traditions examined in this course, nature figures prominently and in many forms and guises. In Ireland at least, the early literature has been recently recognised as an important inspirational source for modern ecological thinking, while the English material more often exemplifies the more traditional anthropocentric approach. The course will focus on a number of relevant passages in Old and Middle English/Irish, exploring both similarities and contrasts. The material will be thematically organized, so that English and Irish texts can be examined alongside each other. The passages will be discussed in their original contexts as well as through the lens of modern ecocriticism. The texts will be available both in the original and in modern English translation.
MATERIAL
A selection of texts in original and translation for each seminar session will be made available in the Moodle.
Recommended reading:
Buell, Lawrence. The Environmental Imagination. Cambridge, Mass: The Bellknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1995.
Cronin, Michael. An Ghaeilge agus an Éiceolaíocht / Irish and Ecology. Dublin: Foilseacháin Ábhair Spioradálta, 2019.
Morton, Timothy. “Thinking Ecology: The Mesh, The Strange Stranger, and the Beautiful Soul.” Collapse 6 (2010): 265-293.
Morton, Timothy. “The Mesh.” In Enviromental Criticism for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Stephanie LeMenager, Teresa Shewry, and Ken Hiltner, 19-30. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Mulligan, Amy C. “Landscape and Literature in Medieval Ireland.” In A History of Irish Literature and the Environment, edited by Malcolm Sen, 33-51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
Neville, Jennifer. Representations of the Natural World in Old English Poetry. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Ní Annracháin, Máire. “Seeing the natural world: Comhbhá an Dúlra.” In Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature, 120C (2020): 349.
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh. “Early Irish Hermit Poetry?” In Sages, saints and storytellers: Celtic studies in honour of Professor James Carney, Vol. 2, edited by Donnchadh Ó Corráin, Liam Breatnach, and Kim R. McCone, 251–267. Maynooth: An Sagart, 1989.
PROCEDURE
The seminar will combine Moodle forum with class sessions.
The forum is designed to serve as a springboard for class discussion. Students should post their immediate reactions to the session reading, suggesting questions for debate and points of interest, in the scope of 100 words.
The class session will develop these suggestions, allowing all participants to interrogate, compare and combine their individual insights and conclusions.
Further details will be discussed during the first introductory session.
ASSESSMENT
Active participation is of the essence (Moodle forum discussion – contributions in at least 6 sessions required; class meetings – the general allowance of 3 absences applies). In addition, students submit a paper of 1,000 words for a credit (Z). An essay of 5,000 words should be submitted as a graded paper (Zk; SIS code AAALA034B). Deadlines: seminar paper 31/8/2025, graded paper 31/8/2026. Later submissions will not be accepted.
DETAILED PROGRAMME 1. week 1: Introduction 2. week 2: Nature and writing 3. week 3: The Sovereignty myth 4. week 4: Exile 5. week 5: The Seasons 6. week 6-7: The aesthetics of nature 7. week 8: The Pastoral week 9 (16/4): Reading week 8. week 10: The Human and the Non-Human 9. week 11: Sea Voyages 10. week 12: The Arboreal 11. week 13: Conclusions
