Department of English

This is an introductory survey of British fiction since 1900, covering some of the important novels and novelists of the past hundred-plus years. There is no single theme unifying our readings; rather, we will be exploring a number of interrelated questions concerning the genre of the novel and the politics of literary form; the relationship between modernism and postmodernism; and the shifting dynamics of Englishness and Britishness during a century of imperial contraction and transnational repositioning.   Novels will include: Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Jean Rhys's Voyage in the Dark, Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies, Sam Selvon's Lonely Londoners, Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child, Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, Zadie Smith's White Teeth, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.  Written work will consist of several short midterm exams, a 3-5 page essay, and an 8-10 page essay.