Global Modernism

Catalog description

“Modernism” is an important term in the study of literary history, and also one of the most confusing and contested. Modernism attained prominence with 19th and 20th century avant-garde artistic and literary movements, but its uses and effects have extended to many places, periods, and cultures. Modernism has always been a global phenomenon. In this seminar, we will read works spanning the 1890s to the 1960s, from the rise of Anglophone modernism in the early years of the 20th century, in London and Harlem, to its influence on postcolonial literatures in Ireland, India, the West Indies, and beyond. What has it meant to be “modern” in these places and times? We will also read a substantial amount of recent criticism and scholarship on modernism in global contexts. Authors will include, for example, James Joyce, Nella Larsen, Virginia Woolf, Mulk Raj Anand, Jean Rhys, and others. Assignments will include short journal entries, midterm and final research essay, short presentation.