Meeting times: Tues.-Thurs., 3:30-4:45

Meeting place: 427 Waterman Building

Instructor: Dr. Richard Sweterlitsch

Office: 315 Old Mill Building

Office Hours: 9-10, 2-3 Tues. and Thurs. Also by appointment

E-mail: rsweterl@zoo.uvm.edu

The course presents insights into the nature of oral traditions and the relationships between oral lore and written literature. The course is influenced by enthological theory; that is, interpreting texts in culture contexts. We look at a range of Irish narratives, including material from the mythological and Ulster cycles, and lore gathered from oral tradition in the19^th and 20^th centuries.

Glassie, Henry. Irish Folktales

Glassie, Henry, Passing the Time in Ballymenone

Kinsella, Thomas (translator), The Tain

Rees, Alwyn and Brinley Rees, Celtic Heritage

Synge, John M. The Aran Islands

Additional required readings are available, as noted, on-line.

Attendance is mandatory. Realizing that circumstances can arise that force someone to miss an occasional class, I allow two cuts (or about 7% of the classes). Beyond that, every missed class lowers your final grade by two percentage points. To avoid losing points, notify me in advance by e-mail, telephone, or seeing me personally.

I require one short paper and one extended paper. The short papers must be a minimum of three pages; the long paper, ten pages.

There is a mid-term and a final exam. Both are a combination short-answer and objective. The final will also have a take-home essay part.

Your final grade is based on the average grade of your two papers (30%), the mid-term (30%), the final exam (30%) and class participation (10%). After the grade is determine using these percentage values, points for missing classes are deducted before the final grade is determined.

http://www.uvm.edu/~english/rsweterlitsch.html for an on-line text of this syllabus.

I. Preliminary Background. How can we in the 21^st century gather information about ancient Irish-Celtic culture? Chapter One "Introduction" to Celtic Heritage explains part of the process ¾ listening to the bearers of oral and literary traditions. Yet, their stories seem illogical and primitive. In the latter half of the 20^th century, scholars realized that human beings do not always think the same way, and the lore of unfamiliar cultures defies our categories of reasoning and our trust in history and science. Once we understand this, we are presented an invitation to appreciate other cultures and their ways of thinking about reality ¾ ways that are embedded in their oral and written traditions. Chapter Two of Celtic Heritage presents an overview of the major subcategories of traditional Irish narratives. Traditionally, scholars recognize four groups, but more recently a fifth "Lives of the Saints" is added to this group. Over the semester, we will deal with tales from all of the cycles. As you read chapters one and two, you need not dwell on Welsh-Celtic material, although you should read what Rees and Rees offer.

II. Creating and Shaping a Celtic Cosmos. Every culture defines itself and its origin using fundamental truths that are embedded in its rituals, customs, sacred texts, hero legends, and tales. In order to understand Irish-Celtic culture, we need realize the culture truths these traditions seek to express. Sometimes the truths are obvious; other times they are presented symbolically. The first chapters in Celtic Heritage present Celtic texts and cross-cultural comparisons to Indic texts in order to

1) elucidate the Irish-Celtic concepts of time and place,

2) spell out the beginning and division of Ireland into provinces,

3) show the waves of peoples who settled on the island and how each contributed

motifs that shape the evolution of Irish culture.

III. Essential literary texts. Equipped with insights into some of the fundamental cultural circumstances in which Irish-Celtic culture expressed itself, we now turn to Celtic texts, following the organization of these materials in Celtic Heritage. Chapter 10, "The Storyteller's Repertoire," provides a very sketchy overview of the variety and classification of ancient narratives, according to Celtic categories. Some of the texts you are expected to read can be accessed at various web sites. I recommend that you print out a text and keeping it in a loose-leaf binder.

IV. The Táin Bó Cuailnge. The most significant text in the Ulster cycle, it focuses on the exploits of Cú Chulainn who single-handedly defends Ulster against the exploits of the invading army of Connaught. For an overview of The Tain, see

http://loki.stockton.edu/~kinsellt/litresources/tain/tain4_1.htm.

Very useful at this point in the course are http://celt.net/Celtic/celtopedia/indices/encycintro.html and http://www.geocities.com/mythical_ireland/mythology/concordance.html. Both define characters. This is important as you read this text with its many characters.

http://departments.vassar.edu/~sttaylor/Cooley/Names.html provides a quick, but limited, index to places and personal names in The Tain.

V. Texts from oral tradition. The material we have covered thus far deals with ancient Irish-Celtic culture. At the point in the semester, we are turning to material gathered and published at the end of the 19^th and throughout the 20^th centuries. Themes and motifs from Celtic traditions have merged with European tale traditions producing a rich and sometimes uniquely Irish folk literature. As you read the new material, keep what you have already learned in mind as it will enhance your experience with the more recent lore.

4 -- Review

11-- (Tuesday) at 4:00