This course considers how a series of wishes, lies, and dreams, and about the Irish were invented and read. Ireland, like California, is a territory on the western edge of a continent about which many mythologies have grown up.In Ireland’s case, these mostly have to do with the supposed mystery of the place, its romance and mythic past, or its violence, or its long bitter history. Who invented these versions of the place, and whose interests do they serve? Why do people continue to believe them? How have they changed? We consider how one small country has been imagined as “other” – as wild, strange, dangerous, fanatic – and how the Irish in their literature, speak back. In Irish literature, they reinvent Irishness.

For those who declared in Fall 2023 or later, this course can fulfill one of two subject requirements for the English major:
-Literature and the Social
-Regions, Borders, Worlds