Department of English

In this course we will focus on the "multiplied consciousness" of writers in the modern age, on the proliferation of voices in modern poetry and prose. Why did it become so important to see life from as many points of view as possible, and what effect does the assumption of a multiplied consciousness have on the concept of individual identity? Modern literature is often described as a dissolution of impressions, images, and sensations; why does Walter Pater link such a dissolution with "that strange, perpetual weaving and unweaving of ourselves"? What are the attitudes of these modern writers towards life, art, and religion, and to what extent are their attitudes representative of ours? We will read works by Eliot, Pound, James, Stevens, Beckett, Woolf, Joyce, and Faulkner. Requirements include an oral report, two papers, and a final examination.