This unit examines the upheavals that took place in literature and culture between 1900 and 1940. Issues discussed include: imperialism and colonialism; the death of God; the cataclysm of the First World War; the crisis in representation and revolution of the word; changing gender relations; the nightmare of history; and the propagation of myth. These are examined through the manifestos of the major aesthetic movements (Impressionism, Imagism, Vorticism) and related themes (impersonality, anti-self). Texts studied include: works from novelists and poets (Conrad, Yeats, Eliot, Pound, Joyce and Woolf); philosophers (Nietzsche and Freud); visual artists (Lewis); and filmmakers (Bergman and... -- Course Website
Instructor: Dr Paul Sheehan
Prerequisites: 6cp in ENGL units at 200 level
