Prerequisites: Communicative competence in English at C1 level or above.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Gain in-depth knowledge of seminal modernist works in their historical, social, political, and cultural contexts.
• Understand the relationship between modernism and early-twentieth-century periodical culture.
• Critically apply a selection of theories about modernism to the reading of literary texts.
• Formulate analytic arguments about modernist texts in oral class presentations and written essays. 

Modernism in Context: Poetry, Fiction, and the Little Magazines

This course examines the early-twentieth-century anglophone modernism through a survey of seminal works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by writers such as T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce (among others). In class, we will explore the historical, political, social, and cultural contexts that enabled the emergence of literary modernism, and we will analyse the experimental aestetic practices and the “make it new” imperative pioneered by modernist writers. An important context to literary modernism is the proliferation of ‘little magazines’, literary and artistic periodicals that first published unconventional modernist work and fostered connections among literary coteries, thus disseminating new modernist trends. Using scholarly digital archives, in class, we will engage with modernist little magazines, their layout, contents, manifestos, and illustrations.

1. (A) Greenblatt Stephen, Aarthi Vadde, Jahan Ramazani, eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Eleventh Edition. Volume F: The Twentieth and Twenty-first Century. New York & London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2024. (The selection of modernist texts from the Anthology will be made available on Teams at the beginning of the course).
2. (A) Paul Poplawski. Chapter 6 “The Twentieth Century, 1901–1939”. In English Literature in Context, edited by Paul Poplawski, 470-540. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. [Available in the University Library]
3. (A) Peter Brooker and Andrew Thacker. “General Introduction”. In The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines. Volume I: Britain and Ireland 1880-1955, 1–26. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. (Available on Teams)
4. (A) Friedman, Susan Stanford. “Definitional Excursions: The Meanings of Modern/Modernity/Modernism”. Modernism/modernity 8, no. 3 (2001): 493–513. DOI: 10.1353/mod.2001.0062. (Available on Teams)
5. (A/C) A selection of additional critical essays will be made available on Teams.

A list of texts from the Norton Anthology covered in this course will be uploaded on Teams in due course illustrated at the beginning of the course. 

• Classes are partly lecture- and seminar-based and students will also be working in smaller groups. Students are required to read assigned texts or extracts periodically and are expected to come to class prepared to actively engage in a respectful academic discussion with their peers and their teacher.

  
  

• Assessment

  • Argumentative Essay: 

  Students will write an argumentative essay (approx. 2,500 words) choosing from a list of topics that will be made available during the course. The essay must be submitted via email to the teacher 10 working days prior to the oral exam session. 

  
  

  • In-class oral presentation: 

  Students will deliver an oral presentation in pairs or small groups on a topic related to the course (to be agreed on with the teacher). The presentation should provide an analysis of  chosen texts and issues and critically engage with relevant secondary sources.

The course is taught and assessed entirely in English. 

English