6500: Victorian to Modern: British Culture and Its Discontents 1890-1940
After reviewing critical claims regarding literary modernism and the nature of “alienation,” this course will examine late Victorian and early twentieth century texts as they respond to the major dislocations of the period: accelerated urbanization and the shrinking of the countryside; colonial conflicts, World War I, the Irish War of Independence, the Spanish Civil War and the tensions which preceded World War II; increased if limited democracy and industrial unrest; and resistance to prescriptive gender and sexual norms. We will consider the increased prominence of Irish and Scottish writing and the effect of the presence in Britain of literary expatriates from the United States and former British colonies. Readings will include as many as possible of the following:
Poetry: Oscar Wilde, Michael Field, Mary Coleridge, W. B. Yeats, Charlotte Mew, Edith Sitwell, Hugh MacDiarmid, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Sarojini Naidu,
Drama: Elizabeth Robins, Votes for Women; Sean O'Casey, Juno and the Paycock
Fiction: William Morris, A Dream of John Ball, Rokeya Hossain, "Sultana's Dream," Israel Zangwill, Children of the Ghetto, , E. M. Forster, Maurice, Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, George Lemming, In the Castle of My Skin
Non-Fiction: Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth, George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, Virginia Woolf, "Moments of Being," Katharine Burdekin, Swastika Night, selections from Leonard Woolf, Downhill All the Way
Syllabus 6500 Modernism and Its Discontents: British Literature 1890-1940
Before the First World War
Week 1 August 24th M Orientation
26 W William Morris, A Dream of John Ball; essay by Elizabeth C. Miller, “William Morris and the Literature and Socialism of the Commonweal,” Routledge Companion to William Morris
Week 2 August 31st M Rokeya Hossain, “Sultana’s Dream”; Katharine Burdekin, Swastika Night, chapters 1-4
September 2nd W Swastika Night to end; Michael Bell, The Cambridge Companion to Modernism, chapter 1, “The Metaphysics of Modernism”
Week 3 September 7th M Israel Zangwill, Children of the Ghetto, selections from section 1
September 9th W Children of the Ghetto, selections from section 2
Week 4 September 14th M _______
W September 16th Elizabeth Robins, Votes for Women; Cambridge Companion, chapter 9, “Modernism and Gender”
Week 5 September 21st M poetry (handout): Mary Coleridge, Michael Field, Charlotte Mew, Wilde, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”; Cambridge Companion, chapter 5, “Modern Poetry”
September 23rd W poetry continued
The First World War and Its Aftermath
Week 6 September 28th M Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth, 1st third
September 30th W Testament of Youth
Week 7 October 5th M ______
October 7th W poetry: T. S. Eliot, Sarojini Naidu, W. H. Auden, Edith Sitwell; Cambridge Companion, chapter 2, “The Cultural Economy of Modernism”
Week 8 M October 12th _____
W October 14 Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, first third; Cambridge Companion, chapter 3, “The Modernist Novel”
Week 9 October 19th M Sunset Song, middle third
W October 21st Sunset Song, conclusion; if time permits, selections from Hugh MacDiarmid, “The Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle”
Week 10 M October 26th E. M. Forster, Maurice
W October 28th Maurice
Week 11 November 2nd M W. B. Yeats, Sean O’Casey, Juno and the Paycock; Cambridge Companion, chapter 5, “Modernism and Drama”
W November 4th _____
Moving Toward Fascism
Week 12 November 9th M Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
W November 11th Mrs. Dalloway
Week 13 November 16th M Leonard Woolf, Downhill All the Way (I will provide selections)
W November 18th George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, 1st half; Cambridge Companion, chapter 6, “Modernism and the Politics of Culture”
Submit paper topic, bibliography, and if possible a précis or abstract before break
Week 14 M November 30th George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, 2nd half
W December 2nd George Lemming, In the Castle of My Skin; Cambridge Companion, chapter 13, “Modernism and Colonialism”
Week 15 M December 7th George Lemming, In the Castle of My Skin
W December 9th ______
Week 16 Finals week: December 14th and 16th (students will report on their final course essays to one another by Zoom); essays are due December 18th.
Course Information 6500:Modernism and Its Discontents: British Literature 1890-1940
3:30-4:45 MW, 131 Schaeffer Hall and my personal Zoom number, 2767 2540 043. Mondays we will attempt to meet face-to-face as long as the situation permits, with those who cannot attend for health reasons entering by Zoom. On Wednesdays we will meet digitally.
Office hours: These are digital and therefore flexible; I can meet you any time TTh 2-6 and at other times if you let me know. If possible please send me an e-mail a day before you would like to meet. I also intend to stay in the Zoom meeting for a couple minutes after class, so that if someone attending remotely has a question or would like to schedule an appointment, we can arrange for this then.
Course texts: Several are available online, and I will provide handouts for the poems and Irish play. I’ve ordered from the university book store copies of The Cambridge Companion to Modernism, The Children of the Ghetto, Testament of Youth, Maurice, Sunset Song, Mrs. Dalloway, Homage to Catalonia, and In the Castle of My Skin.
Assignments for Course:
- Students will attend each class session and read the assignment; please make a mental note of one or two questions or topics you might like to bring up. At times students will be assigned to lead some portion of the class session or present background information relevant to our readings.
- You will be asked to post 6 two page essays on Icon, two for each month, September-November. At least three of these should relate one or more of our texts to some aspect of our critical reading, a background source, a film representation, or the visual and musical culture of the period. For at least two of these posts, please comment on some of the observations made in the postings of your fellow students.
- In most cases the course essay should be 15 double-spaced pages; however it is possible to suggest an alternate assignment, such as two shorter essays. If you choose the longer essay, you should meet with me virtually to discuss its organization, and if you wish, I can comment on an earlier draft. The final exam will consist of student presentations of their essays with some class discussion.