20th
Century Literature in English: World War 1 to Cyberpunk and the Future
Objectives
This class is intended as an introduction both to
English-language literature of the 20th century, and also to the criticism of
20th-century lit�that is, to the ways that scholars have thought and talked
about literary and cultural movements of the past hundred years.
We�ll be reading a wide selection of both canonical
and slightly more off-beat works from the literatures of the U.K,, North
America, and other regions of the world where English is commonly spoken. Along
the way, we�ll be discussing some of the major sea changes of literary culture
(and, by extension, of culture at large) over the last century: the language
play and stylistic experimentations of Modernism; the intertextuality and
parody of Postmodernism; the rise of writing by (and publication of) non-white,
female, and/or lower-class authors; the development of postcolonial literature
as a discernible field of study
Given the tremendous range of potential material
involved, the reading list is obviously highly selective and subjectively
chosen; it�s also, however, fairly long. You will be expected to read for this
class�to read a lot, and to read it carefully. �
Grades:
1.
Assignment 1�a short pr�cis on a
piece of criticism/theory, 1000 words (20%)
2.
Assignment 2�Class
Blog�Writing/Reading Journals (20%) Details will follow
3.
Assignment 3: �a comparative essay,
referring to at least two module texts, that will examine aspects of the
literary works which might be said to link them, 2000 words (30%)
4.
Conference Proposal:� A proposal for one of the academic
conferences in our field, based on this course content and/or your essay (200-500
words).� (10%)
5.
Attendance/Participation (20%)
pretty self-explanatory Miss more than 2 unexcused classes and you should drop.
Required
Texts
The
Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction: Second Edition ISBN
0-393-96833-2. 1998. �
The White Hotel:� D. M. Thomas (1993)
God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy (1998)
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess (1986)
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison(1970)
The Memoirs of a Survivor Doris Lessing(1995)
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson(2000)
Movies:�
Hope and Glory (1987)
Fight Club (1999)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Bladerunner (1982)
Course Packet:� Theory & Poetry.�
Reading
Schedule: texts are due read the day they are listed
Week
One:� Day One: Course introduction, policies, etc.
Day Two:� The Twentieth Century:� Theory, etc.�
Read Selections from The Norton
Anthology of �
���� Contemporary Fiction
Week Two:� Day Three:�
�Early Twentieth Century: Selections
from packet, fiction & theory:�
Day Four: �Selections from packet:� Poetry:
Week Three:� Day Five:�
WW1 & 2:� Selections from
Packet:� Poetry & Fiction
Day Six:�� Read Selections from The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction.
���� Theory �Unclaimed
Experience: Trauma and the Possibility of History.�� Cathy Caruth. From
���� Yale
French Studies, No. 79, (1991), pp. 181-192.
Week Four: Watch Hope & Glory ��
����� Theory:� �Sex, Citizenship, and the Nation in World
War II Britain� �Sonya O. Rose. From
���� The
American Historical Review, 103:4 (1998), pp. 1147-1176.
Day Seven:� The White Hotel
���� Theory:�D.
M. Thomas� The White Brothel: The
Literary Exoneration of the Pornographic� ��������
���� Susanne Kappeller Feminist Review 16 (1984), pp. 26-34.
Week Five:� Day Eight Read Selections from The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction:
Day Nine: Read Selections from The Norton
Anthology of Contemporary Fiction
Week Six:� Day Ten.�
�God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy (date)
Day Nine:� Course Packet� �Theory & Poetry� Sexuality in Extremity: Trauma Literature,
���� Violence, and Counter-Erotics� M. L.
Kohlke.
Week Seven:� Read Selections from The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction
Day Eleven: Course packet poetry
Week Eight:� A Clockwork
Orange Anthony Burgess �
Day Thirteen:� watch film, A Clockwork Orange Course packet: Janet Staiger �The Cultural
���� Productions of A Clockwork Orange� from
Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange
By Stuart
���� Y. McDougal (2003).
Week Nine:� The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison�
Day Fifteen:� Read Selections from The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction
Week Ten: �The Memoirs of a Survivor Doris
Lessing
Day Seventeen: Course packet theory. Chilcoat, Michelle �Brain Sex, Cyberpunk
Cinema,
���� Feminism, and the Dis/Location of
Heterosexuality� NWSA Journal 16:2(2004)
156-176.
Week Eleven:� �Snow Crash Neal Stephenson
Day Eighteen:� Watch Bladerunner
Week Twelve watch Fight Club
Day Twenty:� Read Selections from The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction