This course considers the comic in contemporary Irish writing, shaped by a tradition of black comedy, informed and vexed by a history of complex and absurd confrontations of religion, culture, and language. We will apply excerpts from Simon Critchley’s On Humour to literary texts to explore the implications of comic expression, in particular from the perspectives of gender and postcolonial theory. Texts will include work by Flann O’Brien, Anne Enright, Mike McCormack, Clare Boylan, Blindboy Boatclub, Lisa McInerney, Rita Ann Higgins, Sarah Clancy, Elaine Feeney, and Martin McDonagh.