DHUM 25A31 - Modernism: The Politics of Form

The aesthetic revolution of modernism, concentrated in literature and art but influential also upon film, music, architecture, philosophy and other disciplines, continues to shape theory and practice today. The masterpieces of modernism, many of which are now a century old, remain touchstones of literary and artistic achievement: it is impossible to attain a good understanding of post-modern or contemporary culture without appreciating both the achievement and the disruption of modernism. Moreover, modernism was an intensely political movement, forged in response to industrialisation and, subsequently, the First World War. On the other hand, modernist works of literature are notoriously “difficult” both in style and content, and it can be hard for students, especially students who are not literature specialists, to know how to approach this material or write about it. This course will introduce students to some of the key modernist works and support them to understand this material with manageable guided readings and carefully selected secondary materials. The focus will be on British, Irish, French and American literature but with additional examples for discussion drawn from visual art, sculpture, and music. Nine of the 12 weeks will focus on the “core” modernist period of the early 20th century, with weeks at the start and end of the course considering the roots of modernism in the late nineteenth century, and examples of ‘late' and even contemporary modernist literature. Texts for discussion will include extracts from works by Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, Marcel Proust, André Breton, Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Hart Crane and Basil Bunting. Class time will focus on discussion and all students will give one presentation on a topic of their choice. The aims of the course are : a) to give students a good grounding in the key features of literary modernism b) to give students a good understanding of why and how literary modernism arose and how it developed c) to give students some understanding of the wider cultural and political context of literary modernism and its legacy d) to equip students to comment intelligently on specific examples of literary modernism e) to leave students, on completing the course, confident in their ability to read more widely in modernist literature should they wish to, and with the skills to comment intelligently on such texts, whether as part of further literary studies or in relation to topics in political or cultural history

Victoria MOUL

Séminaire

English

There are no specific pre-requisites, and students do not need to have studied modernism before, though students taking the course may find it helpful to have some grounding in one or more of the following : a) literature, including poetry, in English b) the cultural history of the late 19th or early 20th century c) non-literary modernism (e.g. some knowledge of modernist art or music)

Spring 2023-2024

- 2 commentaries on passage from the set texts (1 from the first half of the semester, 1 from the second half of the semester) – (2 x 15 = 30%) - 1 paper (40%) - 1 oral presentation (20%) - student engagement (10%)