English 137N - Fall, 2013

British Literature 1900-1945

Class Information

Instructor: Recker, Laurel
CRN: 32467
Time: MWF 11:00-11:50
Location: 146 Olson

Description

This course examines fiction and poetry (as well as a bit of non-fiction) to interrogate the aesthetics and politics of British modernisms, which are notorious for their formal experimentation (and scandalous subject matter). Our texts address the political and social changes that manifest across Britain as it faces world wars, the decline of empire, and the rise of the United States as a global power. We will consider how these influences contribute to the production of British literary conventions and, in particular, how they help to define the characteristics of modernism(s).

Grading

2 (very) short essays: 30%
Blogs: 20%
Midterm: 20%
Participation: 10%
Final Exam: 20%

Texts

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
More Pricks than Kicks, Samuel Beckett
Dubliners, James Joyce
To the Lighthouse and A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf
Course Reader (featuring poetry & more)
The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell
Collected Stories, Elizabeth Bowen