Inside the Walls: Big House Literature  
[OLE3363]

Eamonn Hughes, PhD  

Tess Maginess, BA, MA, PhD, PFHEA 

New Year 2025 

5 weekly sessions on Wednesdays 10.00 am to 12.00 noon, starting 22 January 

The Big House has occupied an important, if equivocal ground on the island of Ireland. In this five-week course, we will explore a number of Big House novels and two poems on the subject. We will first look at examples of Big house novels written by people from an Anglo-Irish background who lived within the walls and then turn our attention to how writers from outside the walls viewed the Big House. Whether from inside or outside, the perspective of the Big House writers is complex, sometimes tragic, sometimes comic, sometimes both, but always shot through with an ironic and quizzical set of viewpoints on the nature of power, on the meaning of place and the complexities of identity. Works to be discussed are: The Real Charlotte by Edith Somerville and Martin Ross, The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen, Langrishe, Go Down by Aidan Higgins, Good Behaviour by Molly Keane, The Big House in poems by Paul Muldoon and Derek Walcott. 

Fee £46.00 (concession rate £33.00)  

5 CATS Points (Level 1) 

This class will take place in QUB campus

Concession: The concession rate is available for those who are in receipt of State Benefits (including pension), or are full-time students, part or full-time Queen’s students or are members of University staff holding a valid staff card:

Course: Full RateConcession Rate