British & Irish Literature: Romantic to Post-Colonial – John Lurz

This survey course offers an introduction to major works of British and Irish literature from the revolutionary movements of the late eighteenth century to the shock of modernism in the early twentieth century to the decolonial projects of the 1950s and after. Viewing these brilliantly original, enormously influential, and often disturbing works in relation to the political and social crises that dominated the period, we will consider the ways in which Romantics, Victorians, Modernists, and Post-Colonial writers responded to industrialization, urbanization, imperialism, immigration, mass literacy, changing roles for women, the rise of fascism, and two world wars. We will pay close attention to the innovative and experimental aspects of the literary works and to transformations in the understanding of art and authorship. But we will also study the implication of those works of art in the structure of their society, inflamed as it was by imperial aggressions, racist ideologies, sexual anxieties, and progressive aspirations. Readings will include poems, plays, essays, and two short novels.