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2019/2020

Modernity: Art, War, and Crisis

Code: 42293 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
4313157 Advanced English Studies OT 0 0

Contact

Name:
Andrew Monnickendam Findlay
Email:
Andrew.Monnickendam@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)

Prerequisites

This is an optional subject.

Objectives and Contextualisation

Aims

 

Virginia Woolf stated that “in or about December, 1910, human character changed.” This thought-provoking assertion links together the two central concerns of this course: modernism, and the World War One. If human character changed, art did so also, and perhaps equally if not more radically. Through reading across genres, poetry, prose, and drama, we will come to an understanding of this tragic, enthralling, and complex period of human and literary history. This course therefore focuses on responses to and representations of the Great War.

Once completed this course, the student will achieve an academic understanding of the following subjects:

  • The representation of war.
  • “The Pity of War”
  • Heroism
  • The birth and extension of modernism.
  • Modernism, war and gender.

 

 

Competences

  • Analyse and synthesise information at an advanced level.
  • Analyse the relationship between factors, processes or phenomena in the acquisition of English as a second language, its learning and teaching methods, and its literature, history and culture.
  • Apply methodological knowledge of statistical analysis and data generation, treatment and codification of multilingual databases, analysis of literary texts, etc. to research.
  • Communicate the knowledge acquired and the contributions of one’s research correctly, accurately and clearly both orally and in writing.
  • Critically argue, issue judgements and present ideas on the basis of the analysis of information originating from scientific production in these areas.
  • Develop autonomous learning skills applicable to the research process.
  • Distinguish and contrast between the different methodological and theoretical models applied to the academic study of the acquisition, teaching and use of English as a second language in multilingual and multicultural contexts, literary studies and cultural studies.
  • Show respect towards the opinions, values, behaviours and/or practices of others.
  • Use the English language for academic and professional purposes related to research into the acquisition, teaching and use of English as a second language in multilingual and multicultural contexts, literary studies and cultural studies.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse and interpret at an advanced level literary texts on the English Literature of Modernism (early 20th century)
  2. Analyse and interpret at an advanced level scientifically produced texts on the Modernist English Literature, extracting relevant citations and making content summaries.
  3. Analyse and synthesise information at an advanced level.
  4. Communicate the knowledge acquired and the contributions of one’s research correctly, accurately and clearly both orally and in writing.
  5. Develop autonomous learning skills applicable to the research process.
  6. Distinguish and contrast the different theoretical and methodological models applied to the academic study of Modernism in the English language.
  7. Make oral presentations in English on subjects and texts related to advanced research into Modernist English Literature.
  8. Read and analyse literary and cultural representation in the English language on the subject of the impact of war on the art and literature of Modernism.
  9. Show respect towards the opinions, values, behaviours and/or practices of others.
  10. Write texts defending an idea in relation to a Modernist literary text in English, applying secondary sources to the critical argumentation.

Content

 

We will study the following texts in the order given. You should be familiar with them before the course starts. For the first and third texts, please obtain the specified edition. For the second and fourth, any edition will do.

1. Walter, George (ed.) The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2006.)

2. Malouf, David. Fly Away Peter.

3. Woolf, Virginia (ed. & intro. D Bradshaw) Mrs Dalloway. (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009)

4. D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

 

Among the topics we will discuss, we find the following: 

  1. The representation of war: how should war be narrated? What values should it uphold? What roles does patriotism play?
  2. “The Pity of War”: how should society react to mass slaughter? Should tragedy be the dominant literary form?
  3. Heroism: does the traditional link between war and heroism still hold? Has it been modified? How?
  4. The birth and extension of modernism: what forms the basis of modernist practice? How does it fixation with the psychology accommodate the horror of conflict?
  5. War and gender: in what way does warfare alter gender roles? And sexuality?
  6. To what extent do these particular issues effect the way we understand conflict today?

Methodology

Methodology

This subject takes the form of a seminar, based on the exchange of opinion between instructor and students, and among students themselves. This requires a high level of preparation and participation on all sides. In addition, students will be required to prepare presentations, and write at least on in-class exam.

Apart from compulsory attendance, it is taken for granted that students have thoroughly read both the required primary and secondary material.

This is essentially a course on literary which, at the same time, requires a certain knowledge of the history of the period. Although class discussion will inevitably involve relevant historical information, students will have to read “around” the subject as well. Your instructor will inform you about this.

Additional reading and more detailed reading assignments will be posted on the Virtual Campus.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classroom activities –1(attendance, debate) 30 1.2 2, 1, 3, 4, 9, 6, 8
Type: Supervised      
Classroom activities –2 (oral presentation, in-class exam) 10 0.4 5, 6, 7, 10
Type: Autonomous      
Study, reading, and thinking 75 3 2, 1, 3, 4, 9, 5, 6, 8

Assessment

  • Final Paper: at the beginning of the course, your instructor will give you a list of topics from which you will have to choose one. These will also include a creative option.
  • Oral assessment: this will be based on the degree to which the student contributes to the learning process.
  • Other written exercises: there will be several, often ad-hoc, and including at least one in-class exercise.
  • Re-assessment for this subject requires a content-synthesis test

 

  • VERY IMPORTANT: Total or partial plagiary of any of the exercises will automatically be considered “fail” (0) for the plagiarized item. Plagiary is copying one or more sentences from   unidentified sources, presenting it as original work (THIS INCLUDES COPYING PHRASES OR FRAGMENTS FROM THE INTERNET AND ADDING THEM WITHOUT MODIFICATION TO A TEXT WHICH IS PRESENTED AS ORIGINAL).    Plagiarism is a serious offense. Students must learn to respect the intellectual property of others, identifying any source they may use, and take responsibility for the originality and authenticity of the texts they produce.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Paper 50% 25 1 2, 1, 3, 4, 9, 5, 6, 8, 10
Oral assessment 25% 5 0.2 2, 1, 3, 4, 9, 5, 6, 8, 7
Other written exercises 25% 5 0.2 2, 1, 3, 4, 9, 6, 8, 10

Bibliography

 

Basic secondary material on literature and war:

 Fussell, Paul. The Great War and Modern Memory. London: Oxford UP, 1977.

Gilbert, ‘Sandra M. Soldier’s Heart: Literary Men, Literary Women, and The Great War’ (Signs, Vol. 8: 3, Spring 1983) pp. 422-450.

McLoughlin. Authoring War: The Literary Representation of War from The Iliad to Iraq. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011.

Claire Tylee, The Great War and Women’s Consciousness: Images of Militarism and Womanhood in Women’s Writings: 1914-1964. Iowa City: Iowa UP, 1990.

Winter, Jay. Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995.

 

Basic secondary material on modernism:

 Goldman, Jane. Modernism, 1910-1945: Image to Apocalypse. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2004.

(ed.) Levenson, Michael. The Cambridge Companion to Modernism. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011.

Sherry, Vincent B. The Great War and the Language of Modernism. New York: Oxford UP, 2003.

Tate, Trudi. Modernism, History and the First World War. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1998.

 

Basic secondary material on World War One:

Howard, Michael. The First World War. New York: Oxford UP, 2002

Mazower, Mark. Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century. Harmondsworth:Penguin, 2003.

Sheffield, Gary. Forgotten Victory: The First World War, Myth and Realities. London: Headline, 2001.

Stiener, Zara S. Britain and the Origins of the First World War. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2003.