The Irish and Celtic Studies concentration offers access to three main areas: Celtic traditions in myth, religion, literature, and art; Anglo-Irish literature from the 18th through the 20th century; and the politics and history of Ireland.
James Joyce statue in Dublin. Photo by Manuel Romaris
Requirements
Students moderate into a disciplinary program (e.g., art history and visual culture, historical studies) and are responsible for that program’s requirements. Two members of the Moderation board should be Irish and Celtic Studies faculty. Students are advised to take two ICS cross-listed courses before Moderation, such as Literature 2301, Voices of Modern Ireland, or History 2551, Joyce’s Ulysses, Modernity, and Nationalism. Graduation requirements include two cross-listed courses and successful completion of the Senior Project.
Faculty
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Dean of the College; Professor of English -
Associate Professor of History -
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Written Arts -
Irma Brandeis Professor of Romance Literature and Culture
Faculty Publication Spotlight
The Danger of Romance: Truth, Fantasy, and Arthurian Fictions
By Karen Sullivan, Irma Brandeis Professor of Romance Literature and Culture
By Karen Sullivan, Irma Brandeis Professor of Romance Literature and Culture
The curious paradox of romance is that, throughout its history, this genre has been dismissed as trivial and unintellectual, yet people have never ceased to flock to it with enthusiasm and even fervor. Is it possible that romance is expressing a truth—and a truth unrecognized by realist genres? The Arthurian literature of the Middle Ages, Karen Sullivan argues, consistently ventriloquizes in its pages the criticisms that were being made of romance at the time, and implicitly defends itself against those criticisms. The Danger of Romance (University of Chicago Press, 2018) shows that the conviction that ordinary reality is the only reality is itself an assumption, and one that can blind those who hold it to the extraordinary phenomena that exist around them.
