- Department: English and Related Literature
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
- See module specification for other years: 2023-24
“Irish jokes break bones”, Punch magazine once claimed. The pleasure and power – and the pain – of humour underpins the global reputation of Irish literature. The wit of Anglo-Irish writers on the page and stage comes to mind (from Swift to Somerville and Ross, Edgeworth to Wilde), as does the multivalent, modernist humour of Joyce’s Ulysses, in which the comedy is at once antic, linguistic, parodic, philosophical, and scatological. Indeed, in an influential 1962 book entitled The Irish Comic Tradition, the critic Vivian Mercier identified comedy as the principal wellspring of Irish writing.
This module will consider an excitingly diverse range of novels and short stories that grow out of that tradition. Ranging from the 1930s to the present, these texts offer intriguing examples of how humorous fiction has illuminated Irish life. We will think about how humour operates in Irish fiction, what its targets and limitations are, and what the laughter generated in and by these texts can reveal about culture, politics, and society on the island of Ireland. We will examine the ways in which humour is used to examine the traumas of modern Irish history, and to expose power dynamics around class, gender and sexuality, emigration and immigration, language, nationality, race, and religion. In doing so, we will consider the three main theoretical approaches to comedy (in other words, the incongruity, relief, and superiority theories of humour), as well as the ethics, aesthetics, generic status, literary prestige, and publication contexts of Irish comic fiction.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
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A | Spring Term 2022-23 |
This module offers an advanced introduction to humour in modern and contemporary Irish short stories and novels. The aim is to present a range of theoretical approaches to comic literature, which will help you to identify and analyse the types of humour found in Irish fiction and explore what comic narratives can reveal about the commitments, tensions, and traumas of Irish society.
On successful completion of the module, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with Irish comic fiction since the 1930s.
2. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with theories of humour, scholarship on Irish literature, and the cultural and political contexts of modern and contemporary Irish fiction.
3. Evaluate key debates within Humour Studies and Irish Studies, particularly in relation to comic fiction.
4. Produce independent arguments and ideas which demonstrate an advanced proficiency in critical thinking, research, and writing skills.
Task | % of module mark |
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Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
Task | % of module mark |
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Essay/coursework | 100 |
Texts studied on the module may include (in chronological order):