What was modernism? This is a question that puzzles us as much today as it did when it was first asked around the turn of the 20th century. In this course we’ll take a look at some of the most famous texts of modernist literature, as well as the debates that swelled around them. We’ll learn about the lives of key modernists, including Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, as well as considering some of the key historical events and contexts that shaped the modernist imagination, from psychoanalysis to technological change, media and advertising, mass democracy and feminism. And lastly, we’ll reflect on some of the legacies of modernism in literature and the arts today, and ask what modernism might look like tomorrow. Exact readings TBC. Half a novel or the equivalent in poetry as approx weekly reading. Sessions consist of a short lecture followed by group discussion.
Course aim
To provide an overview of some of the key texts of the modernist literary movement by authors such as Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot and James Joyce.
Do I need any particular skills or experience?
- This course is for beginners and improvers
By the end of the course I should be able to:
- Have read some of the key literary texts of the modernist era.
- Know key info about the lives of the authors.
- Understand the contexts informing their works.
- Better understand and analyse the stylistic features of the works.
- Discover some of the key debates that have swelled around modernist literature.
What else do I need to know?
You will need to borrow or purchase the books once the syllabus has been finalised.
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