David Lloyd “Violence and the Constitution of the Novel”

Below are some discussion questions to help you get started on your blog post on the David Lloyd. Do NOT feel obligated to use these questions for your posts! They are merely here to inspire you and to help you get started.

Also, bear in mind that I am aware of the challenging nature of this essay. David Lloyd has truly become a “rock star” in the field of Irish Studies, and this particular essay has become seminal in any earnest discussion of the Irish novel. Yet, there’s no denying that this essay poses difficulties for even the most seasoned of readers (including your instructor!). Take your time, take notes, and don’t get too bogged down with some of the more complex concepts and jargon. Remember that it’s best to make a concerted effort to understand particular parts of the essay than to try to understand “the whole thing.” If you walk away understanding one or two key paragraphs from this essay I will consider that no meager feat.

Discussion Questions

1. In this essay David Lloyd explores the age-old stereotype of the Irish as “violent.” Where does that stereotype come from? Who defines what constitutes “violence”? What does Lloyd imply about how the novel helped to perpetuate this stereotype?
2. Lloyd borrows extensively from Gramsci’s concept of the “subaltern.” What constitutes a subaltern and a subaltern group? How is subaltern history different from “dominant” history? On page 127, Lloyd suggests that subaltern history “can be read as the sign of another mode of narrative.” What is that mode, according to Lloyd? Given that the Irish history is in many ways the history of subaltern groups, how might this history affect the nature of the Irish novel?
3. On page 129, Lloyd briefly questions the nature of “classification” systems in terms of what constitutes “major” or “minor” literature. In your opinion, where does this classification system come from? Why and how do we make distinctions of what constitutes “great” literature and what is just “pulp fiction”? Are such distinctions ever politically or culturally motivated? Can such distinctions become problematic in the sense that it causes us to overlook certain genres in favor of others?
4. Also on page 129, Lloyd outlines the “reasons usually given for the inadequacy of the nineteenth-century Irish novel.” What are those reasons? You might want to take one of those reasons and analyze what sort of novels those conditions might produce. For instance, how might bilingualism and the emphasis on an oral culture affect the production of the Irish novel or novels from other cultures with similar circumstances?
5. On page 131 Lloyd writes, “As a literary form, the novel is not simply the product and the reflection of certain social conditions but actively contributes to producing them as the very condition of its own reception.” What do you think Lloyd means by this statement?
6. Oftentimes, in order to define something, we have to define it in the negative, or by what it is NOT. From what you’ve gathered from Lloyd’s essay, what characteristics do NOT define the Irish novel? Why is that the case? How is the Irish novel different from the English novel? Why is it different?
7. Lloyd drops many, many key terms and historical references. Choose a key term or a historical reference and do a little research on your own to help better explain some of the important concepts in Lloyd’s essay. Some terms you might want to define are postcolonial, Irish nationalism, the realist novel, and the historical novel. Some historical references are Union, Young Ireland, the 1798 uprising, the Land League, and the Penal Laws. Once you’ve done a little research on your term or reference, explain how Lloyd uses it in his essay and how we can better understand his point through the small amount of research you’ve gathered. Make sure to cite your sources.

My Introduction

I thought I might write a few things about myself so you don't feel as if you're just writing to a stranger this semester. I'm in the fifth year of my PhD program in English, and I'm currently writing my dissertation on the nineteenth-century Irish novel. I've traveled extensively through Ireland, and I was even once a singer in a traditional Irish music band. I gave up my "rock-n-roll lifestyle" to become a professor of literature, and I see teaching as my true passion and calling.

My favorite novel is actually not an Irish novel, it's an English one--Jane Eyre. When I was about 12, my mom purchased a copy for me, and I'll never forget the intense feelings I experienced when I opened the novel and read the first few pages that spoke of Jane's poor, down-trodden circumstances. The "voice" of Charlotte Bronte penetrated my soul, and I felt that she was speaking directly to me from across time and space. Jane is more than a character in a book for me, but a soul mate of sorts. She's independent, outspoken, steadfast in her ideals, and always ready to speak up against injustice. I think this is what I look for in a novel above all things--real characters who help us articulate who we are and where we're going. As great as my love affair is for this novel, ironically it was also the first novel in college I remember thinking about with a critical eye in terms of theory. There are some in the field of literature who see "theory" as destructive to "great" literature, but in my case, I found theory to be an extension of what I love most about novels. Theory, such as postcolonial theory and feminism, for instance, allowed me to see Jane in a much more complex light and made my relationship to this novel, and consequently other novels, much richer.

Some places I frequent on the internet are The Huffington Post www.huffingtonpost.com and www.etsy.com. I love etsy! Etsy is a website for individual artists to sell their crafts, and I always seem to find something beautiful and very special there.

Like everyone else in the universe, I am on facebook. I tried twitter once, but couldn't get into it. I also frequent a chat forum for new moms (I'm expecting my first little one fairly soon!). I joined this chat forum a few months ago, and I'm glad I did as it helped me develop a certain degree of comfort with communicating online. I know this sounds cliche, but I really am a "people person"--I love talking and meeting new people (which is why I love teaching!), so for a long time I found it difficult to translate my personality to the internet. I often felt (and still do at times) self-conscious about how I was displaying myself, and even (I know this may come as a shock) my occasional accidental spelling and grammar errors! I love the blog set up for literature classes. I think it allows us our own "personal" space while at the same time allowing others a window into our thoughts and ideas. This will be my first time using blogs exclusively in a course, instead of D2L, so I'm hoping that it will be successful.

I would love to some day go to South America, specifically Machu Picchu (photo above). I love this essay by Mary Louise Pratt, "The Art of the Contact Zone" that analyzes the hybridity created by the mix of Spanish and Incan culture in the 16th century. I think this essay is especially applicable to Irish literature, which in many ways is a type of "contact zone" of several cultures and influences.

Here's a video of one of my favorite traditional Irish music bands, Dervish, doing a cover of Bob Dylan's "Boots of Spanish Leather":

Blog: WEEK ONE

Congratulations! You made it! Welcome to English 263: Introduction to the Novel, The IRISH Tradition. Below is your first blog assignment. I thought we would take this week to get to know each other and troubleshoot any problems we might have. If you have questions, please direct them to the CLASSROOM SUPPORT discussion forum on our class's D2L site.

Happy Blogging!

Your First Blog:

(For ease of reading comprehension, I’m placing my questions in a numeric list. I recommend, though, that you write your first blog in paragraph form)

1) Write a brief paragraph that will introduce yourself to your fellow bloggers. Give us at least three interesting facts about you.
2) Explain why you signed up for the course and what you hope to get out of it (please refrain from just saying it fulfills a GER credit. That’s pretty obvious).
3) What is your favorite novel and why? (If you do not have a favorite novel, describe a movie that you particularly like). What certain kinds of books do you find yourself drawn to and why? What are your expectations of a novel? In other words, when you open a book, what do you generally hope to get out of it?
4) What is your personal history with English classes? What sort of English classes have you taken and what sort of literature have you read? How do you think this online literature class might be different from other literature classes you have taken?
5) What sort of perspective or point of view are you bringing to this class? In other words, what do you already know about Ireland, Irish literature, Irish history, literature in general? If you don’t have any background in these things, what about your background will help contribute to discussion?
6) What sort of online communities do you belong to already? (i.e. facebook, chat forums, etc. do you already keep a blog?). What’s your experience with online communication?
7) Post a picture of a place you’ve been or a place you’d like to visit. Explain why. (Let’s keep these next few things somewhat PG-13, please).
8) Post a link to a website you tend to frequent. Explain why you like it.
9) Post a youtube video that you like or you think is particularly interesting. Explain why you like this video.
10) Remember, by January 28th at 11:59pm, you must comment on at least THREE of your peers’ blogs. Your comments must be at least 250 words EACH. I will be checking.