ENG32850

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 and questioning of the 'trauma plot'
- the uncanny, spectrality and theories of haunting
- gendered histories and feminist recovery
- queer representation, queering of time and queer histories

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

Molly Aiken, Bright I Burn (2025)
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.

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


 

Student Effort Hours:

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, one/pair of students will lead the class in discussion based on pre-circulated study questions (they can present their response in the form of a 5 minute in-class presentation, (with the option of uploading this to our class Brightspace discussion board in advance and/or prepare a short hand out to focus the class discussion). We will then have a general class discussion with the group responding to and building on the points raised by the presenters/facilitators for the class.

AI Not Permitted:
The use of AI tools is not permitted in this module. Students are expected to engage directly with module materials and activities without the use of AI tools. The assessment is completed entirely without AI assistance, ensuring that students rely solely on their existing knowledge, understanding, skills, and ongoing research.

Your work in this course should be made by you. Similarly, all lectures, assignments, feedback, and grades will be made by your module coordinator without AI, nor will any of your intellectual property you create during this course be fed to tools that train AI. Ideas are social, so let’s make them together.

Moderation Policy
A proportion of written assignments in each module in the School of English, Drama and Film are subject to moderation, meaning they undergo a second layer of review by another grader. This is to promote grading consistency within and between modules in the same level and discipline.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.

 

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 Module texts - may be subject to change*

Course Key Words: genre of historical fiction; literary and critical theories of haunting and spectrality; relationship between disciplines of history and fiction; feminist and queer theoretical approaches; trauma studies; affect; temporality; Irish literary criticism.

All of the course texts are novels. This is a deliberate and enthusiastic choice as it gives us the opportunity to engage with the novel form and is designed for students who want to spend a semester in the company of some great books. I strongly encourage you to read these brilliant novels over the summer months. Jamie O'Neill's masterful queer historical novel is one of the longer novels on the course so it would be particularly beneficial to read this in advance.

Copies of these novels are available in the UCD Library, your local library and can be picked up in any bookshop (with many second hand copies also available). It is advisable that students buy a copy of these books to have in class and to consult for essay writing.

1. Molly Aitken, Bright I Burn (2024)
Set in 13th century Ireland and focuses on the first recorded person in Ireland to be condemned as a witch.

2. Emma Donoghue, Slammerkin (2000)
Set in 18th century London and inspired by the true story of a young girl accused of a murder that took place in 1763. At times a graphic read, it follows the harrowing life of Mary Saunders.

3. Anne Enright, The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch (2000)
Set in 19th century Paris and Paraguay and offers a lush, fictionalized account of the real Eliza Lynch who was born in Mallow, Co. Cork and became the partner of Paraguayan dictator, Francisco Solano Lopez.

4. Jamie O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys (2001)
Set in Dublin in the early 20th century, this novel is queer love story set in the year leading up the 1916 Easter Rising.

5. Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture (2008)
Set in the early 20th century, this novel explores the secret history of aging Roseanne McNulty, a 100 year old woman confined to a Roscommon institution. It is told through the alternating perspectives of Roseanne and her psychiatrist Dr Grene.

Secondary Texts:
de Groot, Jerome. The Historical Novel (2nd ed.). 2026 Edition. Routledge. (Available as an ebook in the UCD Library).

Further secondary texts/readings will be provided on Brightspace.

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.

Course AI Statement: No AI: The assessment for this course is completed entirely without AI assistance, ensuring that students rely solely on their existing knowledge, understanding, skills, and ongoing research. You must not use AI at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core knowledge and skills. The use of AI will be considered a violation of academic integrity.

Similarly, slides, assignments, feedback, and grades will be made by me without AI, none of your intellectual property will be fed to tools that train AI. Ideas are social, let's make them together.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.