We will examine the changes mentioned by Woolf as well as some of the ways in which novelists and poets responded to them. But we will also look at the way these responses have shaped our world, the way in today's culture we see a demand for novelty and progress on one hand, yet are nostalgic for a lost world on the other. This, one could argue, is the paradox of this century, from modernism to postmodernism. We will approach these issues by closely reading a number of novels, stories, and poems. Although I will provide some background material by way of short lectures, the course will be primarily centered on discussion.
Attendance is required.
We will also read poems by W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, H.D., Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, and others. The novels will all be available from the bookstore, the poetry, as well as short background readings from writers like Nietzsche and Freud, as well as contemporary critics, will be available on reserve. Back to course listings .