Literature of the Modern Period from the 1890's to World War II emphasizing, in addition to the literary works, the aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural contexts of the era. Students will read works by writers such as Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett as well as selected cultural and critical texts. British novels, poetry, short stories, and non-fiction from about 1830 to 1900, including works by such authors as Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Alfred Tennyson, and the Brontes. This course will examine the influence of capitalism, industrialism and urban growth on American culture and the notion of American Literary Realism. Through a combination of lecture, primary source reading, and discussion, students will explore how texts from Horatio Alger to Upton Sinclair illustrate major themes and issues of the American experience and its complexities.
Topics vary and are determined by the instructor.
The class will examine an individual author, literary genre, or historical time period. University of Illinois Joined the Waldorf faculty in1995. Joined the Waldorf faculty in 1966. Joined the Waldorf faculty in 1998.