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ENG32850

Academic Year 2025/2026

Haunting Histories: Irish Historical Fiction (ENG32850)

Subject:
English
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
English, Drama & Film
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Dr Maria Mulvany
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

*** Not available in the academic year indicated above ***

What is behind the remarkable proliferation of Irish historical novels dealing with hidden histories and occluded figures over the last twenty years? What critical and theoretical frames can help us to better understand the centrality of historical fiction and the uses of the past in contemporary Irish writing?

This course introduces students to the contemporary historical novel in the Irish context. We will investigate historical fiction as an important, hybrid genre that a selection of writers have used to interrogate the dialectical relationship between history and fiction. We will explore how authors such as Anne Enright, Emma Donoghue, Sebastian Barry and Jamie O’Neill have experimented with the layered and sometimes queer temporalities of historical fiction to write occluded subjects and experiences back into the Irish cultural imaginary. We will think together about the historical novel in relation to themes of nationhood, memory/commemoration, spectrality, trauma, gender, sexuality, race, class and queer time. We will also attend to important formal issues such as the use of unreliable narration, metafictionality and intertextuality.

Through close textual analysis of a set of five primary novels alongside key critical and theoretical work, we will examine historical fiction as a disruptive genre that destabilizes singular notions of ‘History’, highlights the subjective nature of historical narratives and alerts us to haunting presence of the past in the present.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Identify the key characteristics of historical fiction and historiographic metafiction.
2. Engage with key theoretical and critical concepts relating to the representation of gender, sexuality, trauma, class and race in Irish historical fiction.
3. Demonstrate an increased critical understanding of the genre of historical fiction, the primary texts and a variety of literary and critical materials relevant to the study of the historical novel.
4. Write critically on key issues raised on the course.
5. Demonstrate improved critical writing and oral communication skills.

Indicative Module Content:

This module will explore the uses of the past in Irish fiction. We will think together about questions related to:
- the narrative construction of history
- the relationship between truth and fiction/fictionalization of historical events and figures.
- representations of trauma
- the uncanny, spectrality and theories of haunting
- gendered histories and feminist recovery
- queer temporalities and queer histories

*This is an indicative reading list and can be subject to change*

Roddy Doyle, A Star Called Henry (1999)
Emma Donoghue, Slammerkin (2000)
Anne Enright, The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch (2000)
Jamie O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys (2001)
Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture (2008)

Please note that the School of English, Drama and Film reserves the right to withdraw modules in the period up to and including the first week of the teaching semester.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

76
Autonomous Student Learning

100
Seminar (or Webinar)

24
Total

200

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is a seminar module that will include a mix of short introductory lectures on the weekly topic along with class discussion, student presentations, individual, pair and group work, and close reading exercises/handouts in class. Each week, two or three students will give a short 5 minute in-class presentation that will lead/frame our class discussion (with the option of uploading this to our class Brightspace discussion board in advance also). We will then have a general class discussion with the group responding to and building on the points raised by the presenters.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Participation in Learning Activities: Each week, a student[s] will be assigned to contribute a 5 minute presentation in person or recorded and posted to Brightspace/discussion board in advance. This will form the basis of class discussion Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11 Graded No
15
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Close reading assignment:
Short (maximum 1,000) close-reading written exercise on one chapter/4-5 paragraphs in one of the course texts.		 Week 7 Graded No
25
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): End of term research-based essay (2500 words) drawing on one or two of the course texts and critical readings. Week 12 Graded No
60
 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.


Indicative texts only - may be subject to change*

Roddy Doyle, A Star Called Henry (1999)
Emma Donoghue, Slammerkin (2000)
Anne Enright, The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch (2000)
Jamie O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys (2001)
Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture (2008)

Please note that the School of English, Drama and Film reserves the right to withdraw modules in the period up to and including the first week of the teaching semester.
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