Introductory description

To introduce students to the defining concerns, historical contexts, and formal features of modern world literatures from 1789 to the present, with a focus on the question of cultural and literary modernity. The module also forms a foundation for the global requirement at level 6.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

TERM 1

1. Introduction: Modernity, Manifestoes and the Module
   Unit I (1789-1848): Enlightenment, Revolution, Romanticism
2. Johann von Goethe, Faust Part 1, trans. David Luke (*Oxford World's Classics)
3. Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, African (Dover Thrift)
4. William Blake, "Auguries of Innocence"; Percy Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind" and "The Mask of Anarchy"; Alexander Pushkin, "The Bronze Horseman" [handout]
5. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein [1818 Text] (Nortol Critical Editions)

Unit II (1848-1914): Modernity, Captial, Empire
7. Charles Baudelaire, "I. Beauty, Fashion and Happiness," "II. Manners and Modes," "III. An Artist, Man of the World, Man of Crowds and Child," "IV. Modernity," "IX. The Dandy," from "The Painter of Modern Life"; "The Swan" from Fleurs du Mal; "The Eyes of the Poor," "Lost Halo," "Bash the Poor!" from Paris Spleen; Arthur Rimbaud, "The Drunken Boat" [handout]
8. Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House (four major plays, Oxford World's Classics)
9. Natsume Soseki, Kokoro trans. Meredith McKinney (Penguin Classics)
10. Joeseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (Penguin Popular or Penguin Classics)

TERM 2
Unit III (1914-1945): Modernisms and World War

1. Rabindranath Tagore, Home and the World (Penguin Classics)
2. Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis, trans. Samuel Beckett [handout]; T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land (Dover Thrift)
3. Katharine Anne Porter, Pale Horse, Pale Rider (Penguin Classics) (covering title story only)
4. Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children, trans. John Willett (Methuen)

Unit IV (1945-1989): Cold War, Decolonisation & the Long Boom
7. Samuel Beckett, Endgame (Faber)
8. Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star (Penguin)
9. Aimé Césaire, Notebook of a return to the Native Land; Frank O'Hara, "Ode: Salute to the French Negro Poets" and "The Day Lady Died"; Elizabeth Bishop, "Questions of Travel"; Kamau Brathwaite", "Letter Sycorax" [handout]
10. Bessie Head, A Question of Power (Heinemann)

TERM 3
Unit V (1990-present): Contemporary World Literatures

1. Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis (Vintage)
2. A work of contemporary world literature chosen by MWL tutors for their individual seminars; group presentations of these works to the module take place during the final session of the year

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• To discuss a work of literature in relation to questions of modernity, the dynamics of innovation and tradition, and the role of social, cultural, and international formations in shaping the context of literary production. To participate in discussions and exercises regarding the role of literature in relation to other media, questions of institutional authority and contemporary cultural debates. To give students the necessary knowledge to make informed choices at level 5 and 6 with regard to world literature and modern literature.

Indicative reading list

Generic Reading lists can be found in Talis

Subject specific skills

Grasp some of the defining concerns, historical contexts, and characteristic formal features of modern world literatures from 1789 to the present

Transferable skills

Discuss a particular work of literature in relation to questions of modernity, the dynamics of formal innovation and tradition, and the role of social, cultural and (inter)national formations in shaping the context of literary production
Write a close reading analysis of a particular passage from a work of modern literature; compile an annotated bibliography on a topic in preparation for writing an essay; research a text outside the syllabus for comparative purposes; prepare a presentation on a work or movement of modern literature
Engage in discussions and exercises regarding the role of literature in relation to questions of contemporary media, institutional authority, aesthetic distinctiveness, and sociocultural impact
Prepare to make module choices in modern and world literature at level 5 and 6; prepare for the global requirement module at level 6.