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When consulting the Oxford Companion to English Literature, one finds the following statements on Modernism: "A sense of cultural relativism is pervasive in much modernist writing, as is an awareness of the irrational and the workings of the unconscious mind ... Modernist literature is a literature of discontinuity." In fact, Modernism brought about numerous changes in society, science and the arts, all of which are of course reflected in the time's literature. This seminar will provide an overview of Modernism as a literary movement by giving a general outline of its historical background, origins and developments and by having a close look at some major publications of the era. Among others, we will study texts by writers such as Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot. We will also look at theoretical ideas these writers had about literature and its role in modern society.
A reader containing various theoretical and literary texts will be available from early April onwards. Students are asked to also obtain their own copy of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse (Penguin Modern Classics Edition). |
