| Unit name | Modernism, Experimentation and Form |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGLM0039 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Maude |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The unit introduces students to the formal and thematic innovations of Modernist writing. It addresses the structural and generic questions raised by early and high Modernist texts, as well as attending to the social, political and cultural contexts of the period, including scientific and medical discoveries; new technologies such as transport, telephony and film; the rise of psychoanalysis; feminism, sexual liberation and women in the workplace; the First World War, shell shock and language pathology; narrative, causality and chance-occurrence; animality, post-humanism, and Modernism’s evolved notion of the self.
The unit aims to develop students’ awareness of one of the most formally innovative periods in literary history; analyse its questioning of generic conventions and motifs; enable students to discuss and, at a mature level, write about literary works of the period and to encourage and develop existing skills through independent reading, research and writing.
1. A broadened experience of the range and variety of Modernist writing.
2. Improved independent critical thinking about literature of the period.
3. A maturing ability to apply critical, social and cultural contexts to the discussion of early-twentieth-century English literature.
4. Developing an appropriate style of critical writing for the discussion and analysis of literary works.
5. Improving existing skills through independent reading, research and writing on defined texts and topics.
8 x 2-hour seminar, 11 consultation hours
1 essay of 4,000 words which would assess the standards reached of the abilities and knowledge listed in learning objectives 1-4. Each student will also be required to give a 1000-word presentation in class.
Armstrong, Tim. Modernism, Technology and the Body. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Beasley, Rebecca. 'Theorists of Modernist Poetry'. London: Routledge, 2007.
Bradshaw, David and Kevin J. H. Dettmar (eds). 'A Companion to Modernist Literature and Culture'. Oxford: Balckwell, 2008.
Kolocotroni, Vassiliki and Jane Goldman (eds.). 'Modernism: An Anthology of Sources and Documents'. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
Lewis, Pericles. 'The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Rainey, Lawrence (ed). 'Modernism: An Anthology'. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
