This seminar involves a deep immersion in the poetry and fiction of W.B. Yeats and James Joyce, two of the greatest writers of the 20th century and men affected deeply by their Irish identities. Our study of their works and of the historical and cultural contexts that shaped them will culminate in a travel experience to Ireland next summer. There, you’ll experience first-hand the landscapes that influenced and are represented in their works.

During the spring semester, we’ll read their major works and try to understand how each writer helped define and create the themes and techniques of modern literature; how each incorporates personal history, myth, and popular culture in his works; and how each responded to the Irish Nationalist struggle, the First World War, and other major historical events and movements. We’ll also consider their complex relationships with the women who sustained, inspired, and sometimes fought with them, including Maude Gonne, Lady Gregory, and Nora Barnacle.

Traveling abroad in June 2015, we will visit key sites in Dublin and experience the Bloomsday festivities, celebrating the work and life of James Joyce, held annually on June 16. Then we’ill weave their way to Sligo, Galway, the Aran Islands and back to Dublin visiting specific locations featured in such poems by Yeats as “The Stolen Child,” “The Lake-Isle of Innisfree,” and “Easter 1916.” We will also visit the house on the Aran Islands which is the site of Joyce’s short story, “The Dead” and retrace the paths of his characters in Ulysses... By experiencing these sites directly, we will understand how the Irish landscape functions on multiple levels in each man’s work as setting, symbol, and even as a kind of character in itself.

This course may be most appropriate for students interested in literature, creative writing, and Irish culture. Students should be aware that they will be reading challenging texts.

The academic course associated with this program is ENGL 355/ The Uncreated Conscience of My Race: Yeats, Joyce and Ireland, for 4 credits.

This course meets throughout the Spring semester and travels in June. Exact travel dates are TBD.

Note this course travels in June.

Itinerary and planned activities subject to change.

***The application process for this program has CLOSED***