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Observations, Sensations, Actions; British Fiction, 1890-1939
ENGL256 SP

The British fiction of the modern period displays a range of concerns, from the aestheticist cultivation of beauty and sensation to documentary-realist explorations of social problems. This course will interpret novels, stories and quasi-fictional reportage from the period in relation to ideas (then and now) about the social and political function of literature. Emphasis will fall equally on questions of narrative technique and thematic content. How are the diverse emphases of these works respons es to processes of modernization and the commodification of culture? How do these works depict the relation of social and historical realities to individual perception and experience? How are private desires reconciled with public responsibilities? How is literary language imagined as both rational communication and a disruption of habituated modes of thought and action? How are the pervasive anticapitalist sentiments of the period manifested in both progressive and reactionary views of culture and politics?

MAJOR READINGS

Fiction, reportage and critical pieces by such writers as Caudwell, Conrad, Ford, Forster, Gissing, Isherwood, Joyce, Lawrence, Lewis, Orwell, Pater, Rhys, Wells, Wilde, Woolf.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Several short papers, class participation.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Since our first work under discussion is also one of the longest, it would be helpful if students get started on it before the first class meeting (Penguin paperback, latest edition). This course counts towards the English Department's historical knowledge requirement.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

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

Prerequisites: NONE

Last Updated on MAR-24-2000

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