Wyndham Lewis, Kermesse (1912)
Wyndham Lewis, Kermesse (1912)
TR 12:30 - 1:45
Willard 306
Course Description:
This course will examine twentieth-century writers and works from England, Ireland, India, Africa, and the Caribbean, paying special attention to the global contexts that have reshaped both British literature and the English language. In many ways, twentieth-century British literature is the story of the complex and often painful process of globalization. This is mainly because British literature is framed by two complementary cultural forces: the gradual dissolution of the once-powerful British Empire and the expansion of English as a dominant global language. As we shall see, these movements are not contradictory: as the high tide of British conquest reached into nearly every corner of the earth, the English language, English cultural practices, and British institutions were frequently left behind in its wake. Moreover, during the last fifty years, the global dissemination of the English language has to some extent been continued by American interests around the world, suggesting important connections between British literature and our own contemporary culture. As we read novels, poems, short stories, and essays in English that come from writers of many different national communities, we’ll consider the complex relationships between the English language, British literature, and global culture.
Texts:
Abrams, et al., Norton Anthology of British
Literature Vol. 2C (7th ed.)
Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
Course Requirements:
Assignments: The written work for this course will consist of two papers, a midterm, and a final exam. The first paper will be a short analysis of a poem or section of a poem, and the second paper will ask you to compare the work of two writers in a larger literary and/or cultural context. I will hand out more specific topics and guidelines well ahead of the due dates. Late papers will be marked down 1/3 of a letter grade for each day past the due date. I will also ask you to choose one day to give a brief presentation on the day’s reading that will lead into several discussion questions (or a complex question with several parts!) about the material. You will hand in your questions on the day of your presentation. You are required to discuss your opener with me at least one class day ahead of time; if you fail to do this, your opener will be marked down one letter grade.
Grade Percentages:
Paper 1 (4-5 pp.) |
20% |
Paper 2 (5-7 pp.) |
25% |
Midterm |
20% |
Final |
25% |
Discussion Opener |
10% |
Attendance: Attendance is required in this course. You will be excused for up to three absences. Each absence beyond the third will lower your course grade by 1/3 of a letter grade. Your three "excused" absences are designed to cover illness and other obligations. Except under extraordinary circumstances, no additional absences will be excused. If you miss more than six classes, you will not pass the course. You are responsible for material covered in class whether you are in class or not. If you do miss a class, please see one of your classmates to find out what you’ve missed before you ask me.
Participation: I expect you to participate regularly in class. "Participation" means that you have done all of the reading assignments carefully, you have brought your text(s) to class, and you are prepared to contribute to class discussion with questions or responses. You will not receive credit for participation simply by attending class. Your course grade may be lowered or raised by one-third of a grade based on the frequency and level of your participation.
Course Schedule:
Week 1: What it Means to be "Modern" and "British"
R 9/7
Week 2: "The Century’s corpse outleant": The Victorian Legacy
T 9/12
"Introduction" to the Twentieth Century
R 9/14
Week 3: "the dark places of the earth": Imperialism and its Discontents
T 9/19
R 9/21
Week 4: "Pro patria mori": The "Great War" and the Shock of the Modern
T 9/26
R 9/28
Week 5: "The leaden circles dissolved in the air": Mourning, Memory, and Imperial Nostalgia
T 10/3
R 10/5
Week 6: "For there she was": The New Woman and the Modern City
T 10/10
R 10/12
Week 7: "A terrible beauty is born": Writing Modern Ireland
T 10/17
R 10/19
Week 8: "The center cannot hold": Myth, Meaning, and High Modernism
T 10/24
R 10/26
Week 9: "These fragments I have shored against my ruins": The Waste Land of Western Culture
T 10/31
R 11/2
Week 10: "Why talk about the British?": Late Colonial Encounters
T 11/7
R 11/9
Week 11: "On this Island": English Poetry after Empire
T 11/14
R 11/16
Week 12: "The present of the past": Irish Poetry during the "Troubles"
T 11/21
R 11/23
Week 13: "quietly American": Remapping the Literary Geography of Empire
T 11/28
R 11/30
Week 14: "We lost our way to England": Rewriting the Literary History of Englishness
T 12/5
R 12/7
Week 15: "We’ll meet again, we’ll part once more": The Global End(s) of British Literature
T 12/12
R 12/14
FINAL EXAM: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 11 A.M
page last updated 11/13/00
hegglundj@ccsu.edu