British Literature Since 1945

Catalog description

This course considers the development of literary forms across the genres of the novel, drama, and poetry after Modernism and the end of the British empire. We will examine works from 1945 to the present, as writers tackle late twentieth- and early twentieth-century pressures such as globalization, terrorism, and genetic engineering. The post-War period of British drama is comparable in depth to the Renaissance. Meanwhile, it is a moment of intense self-reflection and reflexivity, as novelists take a distinctly metafictional turn. Authors under consideration include Larkin, Hill, Osborne, Pinter, Amis, Spark, Ishiguro, Winterson, Churchill, Orton, Barnes, Carter, Orwell, Dabydeen, Leonard, Harrison, McEwan, and Smith.