English and drama

Modernisms

Module code: Q3308
Level 5
30 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Seminar, Lecture
Assessment modes: Coursework

This module studies 1860-1945, one of the truly momentous periods of political, social, and cultural history. Imperialist conflict, the growth of nationalism, war, technological innovation, fundamental social, intellectual, ideological, and political transformations, shifts in the relationships between the sexes, the development of consumerism, the creation of the mass press, the radio and cinema, the emergence of communism and fascism: these provide contexts for our reading and lectures. Movements including Decadence, Vorticism, Imagism, and Dada are represented in course offerings. Readings include poetry, novels, short stories, literary criticism, and Joyce’s Ulysses (1922).

Module learning outcomes

• Demonstrate an understanding of the connections between literature, both dominant and marginal, and its social, cultural, intellectual and historical contexts.
• Communicate effectively a critical and contextual understanding of the practice of literature in the period as exemplified in appropriate textual instances.
• Assess and explain aspects of the relationship between the contexts of literature and developments in genre and representation.
• Demonstrate an awareness of current reflections on and debates about the period of study.