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Academic Year 2005/2006

British Modernist Fiction
ENGL 328 FA

This course is an introduction to the formal, thematic, and philosophical features of British Modernist fiction. This course will attempt to provide a broad, if necessarily selective, picture of modernist fiction in all its considerable variety. Thus, in addition to spending weeks reading James Joyce's Ulysses, and other modernist classics, we will read some arguably minor novels as well. We will spend considerable time on what is called "late modernism," that is, the period from the early thirties to modernism's official end in 1945. We will also focus on modernism's recurrent preoccupations, particularly its concern with the meaning of modernity itself. Are modernism and modernity identical, antagonistic, or mutually dependent? How is modernism implicated in Britain's waning imperial fortunes? What relations does modernism have with popular culture? To what extent was it shaped by technological change?

MAJOR READINGS

Selected Texts:
Joseph Conrad, THE SECRET AGENT
Ford Maddox Ford, THE GOOD SOLDIER
James Joyce, ULYSSES
Virginia Woolf, MRS. DALLOWAY
Stevie Smith, NOVEL ON YELLOW PAPER

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two short essays (5-7 pages), a final exam, and regular brief writing assignments.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: ENGL201 Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006

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