English 155C - Spring, 2017

20th Century British Novel

Class Information

Instructor: Dobbins, Gregory
CRN: 91269
Time: TR 12:10-1:30
Location: 261 Olson

Description

This course will provide a survey of the history of the British novel throughout the last century, with an emphasis on the different directions evident in that literary form after World War II. We will begin by looking closely at two entries into Modernism (James Joyce and Virginia Woolf) in order to consider how they served as models for later writers. After that, we will consider representative examples of different voices which emerge in Britain after 1945: the so-called "Angry Young Men" (Kingley Amis), immigrant Black Britain (George Lamming), experimental Late Modernism (B.S. Johnson), Post-Modernism (Angela Carter), and contemporary Queer writing (Jeanette Winterson).

Grading

Two essays, a final, short close reading assignment, and participation

Texts

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis
In the Castle of My Skin, George Lamming
Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry, B.S. Johnson
Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson