Undergraduate Course: Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Gaelic Literature (CELT10060)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Taught in Gaelic? | Yes |
| Summary | The course consists primarily of close analytical readings of a broad range of twentieth and twenty-first century literature in Scottish Gaelic. In addition to considering the dominant themes and questions addressed by the texts considered, the course will give close attention to questions of structure and narrativity, the challenges evident in the evolution of new literary genres in Gaelic, and the development of new styles and the appearance of new voices in particular genres. The texts studied will be placed in the context of Gaelic literature and culture, and the social history of Gaelic in the modern period. |
| Course description |
Since the start of the twentieth century, there has been a great expansion of Gaelic literary activity. Ironically, this has come at the same time as a steady and ongoing decline in numbers of speakers. In previous centuries, poetry, and particularly song-poetry, was the dominant form of literary expression in colloquial Scottish Gaelic (although there has for centuries been a very vibrant oral culture which included diverse forms of oral narrative). In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, large amounts of poetry continued to be composed, but markedly new forms emerged. Similarly, the twentieth century saw the development of new forms of literary expression in Gaelic, including the novel, novellas, short stories, autobiographies and other life writing, and drama. While some of these genres had antecedents in the oral tradition and in nineteenth century Gaelic prose, much was new and distinctive. The twentieth century also witnessed the emergence of new voices, including many more female writers, and many writers who had learned the language, some of whom had little or no close connection to the traditional Gaelic communities of the Highlands and Islands.
There have also been significant thematic developments. In addition to confronting many of the particular challenges faced by the language community in Scotland such as language shift, economic decline in the heartlands and ongoing rural depopulation, the land question, exile, and the role of the writer in a minority culture, Gaelic authors also explored wider issues of the period, including the rise of communism and fascism, world wars, the Cold War and other international conflicts, the consequences of Empire, nationalism, the impact of modern media, neo-liberalism, environmental issues and social justice.
Finally, the means by which Gaelic writing has been disseminated has changed. In the nineteenth century, there developed a lively Gaelic periodical press, and this continued in the twentieth century. Gaelic writing has been facilitated by the development of new media, in particular Gaelic radio, and now on social media platforms such as Facebook, and Gaelic writing has also enjoyed support from organisations such as An Comunn Gàidhealach, The Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, the Gaelic Books Council, and the Scottish Arts Council, as well as publishers such as Gairm, Acair, CLÀR and the Luath Press.
Outline Content
The precise content of the course will change from year to year, depending on the interests of the teaching staff and of the students. However, there will be an introductory unit in which matters such as the nature of Gaelic publishing, the development of genres of Gaelic writing, particular themes of importance across genres, the impact of literatures in other languages, including other Celtic languages and English language literature, as well as the impact of the English language itself, and the broad historical context of Gaelic writing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries will be explored.
The substantive content will then be explored in approximately eight sessions. The precise content of these sessions will change from year to year. It is expected, though, that a range of Gaelic poetry and of Gaelic fiction, particularly short stories, will comprise a considerable portion of these sessions. In each year, students will be expected to explore material from at least two genres. There may, however, be a focus in these substantive sessions on a particular writer or writers; for example, the prose and poetry of Angus Peter Campbell or Iain Crichton Smith or Myles Campbell or Donald John MacDonald, the poetry and literary criticism of Meg Bateman or Ann Frater, the multifaceted oeuvre of Derick Thomson, and so forth.
Student Learning Experience
The course will be conducted by way of weekly two-hour seminars. In the first week, there will be an introductory presentation on the structure, learning objectives and forms of assessment of the course, followed by a fifty minute lecture on the first topic to be covered. In the next week, the first half of the class will be given over to a discussion of the primary and secondary source material assigned as required readings for the first topic, and in the second half of the class, there will be a lecture on the second topic. This pattern will be followed in subsequent weeks: first, a discussion of the material introduced in the previous week, followed by a presentation on the material to be discussed in the next class. Students will be expected to engage with required readings and come to class prepared to discuss the material in class. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the material covered in class in the take home assignment at the end of the course, but the work done in class is expected to inform the preparation of their class presentations and their course essays, as well
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate an awareness of the main genres and thematic diversity apparent in twentieth- and twenty-first century Gaelic literature;
- demonstrate practical Gaelic language skills, for example in terms of the vocabulary of literary criticism;
- demonstrate an understanding of the nature of Gaelic literary publishing in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries, including the role of specialist publishers, literary journals and their editors, newspapers and other print media, and sources of financial and other material support for Gaelic literary production;
- demonstrate knowledge of linguistic and stylistic features of the forms of Gaelic literary output considered, including dialectal diversity, orthographic development, and register
- demonstrate an understanding of the social, political, and cultural context of Gaelic literary production of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Close engagement with and critical analysis of primary texts
Critical evaluation of secondary source material
Independent reading, and an ability to identify and locate relevant source materials
Coherent and clearly structured writing, and the ability to construct sound arguments
Ability to express oneself effective orally and in writing in English and in Gaelic
Effective engagement in group discussions
Effective time management |
| Keywords | Gaelic Prose,Gaelic Novel,Gaelic Short Story,Gaelic Autobiography,Gaelic Life Writing,Gaelic Drama |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Robert Dunbar
Tel: (0131 6)50 3621
Email: Rob.Dunbar@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
|
|
University Homepage