[ Wesleyan Home Page ] [ WesMaps Home Page ] [ Course Search ] [ Course Search by CID ]

Postwar Novel in English
ENGL331 SP

This course examines a selection of influential novels written in the two decades following the end of the Second World War. Beginning with works from the late 40s by writers with close ties to the experimental modernism of the 20s and the socially committed writing of the 30s, we will focus on a number of transnational cultural phenomena specific to the period, such as the rejection or critical transformation of earlier modernist and avant-gardist techniques and values; the questioning of Eurocentr ic cultural authority; the erosion of Empire and struggles over decolonization; writers' loss of faith in established political culture; the emergence of identity politics; the advent of a youth subculture. The course will also look at how these novels f it into, or cast doubt on, the modernism/post-modernism dichotomy now current in interpretations of 20th-century literature.

MAJOR READINGS

Achebe, Chinua: THINGS FALL APART Baldwin, James: GIOVANNI'S ROOM Bowles, Paul: THE SHELTERING SKY Beckett, Samuel: MOLLOY Burroughs, William: NAKED LUNCH Comyns, Barbara: THE SKIN CHAIRS Ellison, Ralph: INVISIBLE MAN Heller, Joseph: CATCH 22 Lessing, Doris: THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOKS Nabokov: LOLITA Ngugi, Wa Thiong'o: THE RIVER BETWEEN Orwell, George: 1984 Rhys, Jean: WIDE SARGASSO SEA Sillitoe, Alan: SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Three short papers, one longer analyticfal or research paper, student led discussions.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course counts toward the department's historical knowledge requirement. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

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

Prerequisites: NONE

Last Updated on MAR-24-2000

Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions.

Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459