English 104B: British Literature from 1900 to the Present

Instructor: James H. Donelan 
Email: donelan@english.ucsb.edu
Phone: 893-2291
Class Meetings: TR 9:30-10:45, Girvetz 2128
Enroll No.: 47357
Office Hours: Monday 10-11, Tuesday 11:00-12:00 or by appointment.
Office Location: 2702 South Hall
Home Page: http://english.ucsb.edu/people-detail.asp?PersonID=12
Texts: Greenblatt, et al, eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume F: The Twentieth Century and After
Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

Course Description: We will be reading novels, plays and poems, from the first Modernist revolution to the Postcolonial era by a diverse group of writers, representing the extraordinary burst of experimentation and intensity in literary production prompted by global warfare, economic upheaval, and the collapse of empire over the course of the twentieth century.

Requirements: The course requires regular attendance, active participation in class discussion and activities, and timely completion of all assignments, a short essay (5-6 pages), a midterm, one longer essay (8-10 pages) and a final examination..

In addition, please do your best to observe the following rules:

• Papers should be no longer or shorter than the length assigned and submitted on time. Late papers will result in grade reductions.
• Never submit a paper without proofreading it carefully. Students are expected to adhere to MLA citation style.
• Your classmates and your instructor depend on your presence in class and your full participation. Do not miss class unless you must.
• All university regulations regarding academic dishonesty will be enforced.

Syllabus

All readings are from The Norton Anthology: Volume F except for Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway. Page numbers for the assignments are given after the title; please read the selection carefully before the day indicated so you can discuss it in class. Readings vary in length, so please plan carefully.

I: Introduction to Modern Literature

9/25     Introduction and logistics.
9/30     Eliot, “Prufrock” 2289 and “The Hollow Men” 2309.
10/2     Eliot, “The Waste Land” 2295 and “Tradition and the Individual Talent” 2319.

II: The Great War

10/7     “Voices from World War I” 1954; Brooke, “The Soldier,” 1955; Sassoon, “They” 1960; and Owen, “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” 1971.
10/9     Owen, “Dulce Et Decorum Est,” 1974; “Strange Meeting,” 1975; and “Futility” 1976; Graves, from Goodbye to All That, 1985.

III: Yeats and Auden: Modernism and Politics

10/14  W. B. Yeats, “Down by the Sally Gardens,” 2024; “Easter 1916,” 2031; “The Second Coming,” 2036; “Among Schoolchildren,” 2041; and “Sailing to Byzantium” 2046.
10/16  Auden, “Petition” 2422; “Lullaby,” 2423; “In Memory of W. B. Yeats,” 2429; “The Unknown Citizen,” 2431; “September 1, 1939,” 2432; and “The Shield of Achilles,” 2437.

10/20 First Essay Due. Suggested topics.

IV: The Modern Artist

10/21  Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
10/23  Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, continued. “A Room of One’s Own” 2092.
10/28  Joyce, “The Dead,” 2163 and excerpts from Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, 2200.
10/30  Midterm
11/4    Smith, poems, 2372; Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant,” 2379; and “Politics and the English Language,” 2378.
11/6    Beckett, Endgame, 2393.
11/11 Veterans’ Day. No class.

V: Post-War, Post-Masculine, and Post-Colonial Literature

11/13   Poems by Larkin, 2565, Thomas, 2444; Hughes, 2594; and Harrison, 2530.
11/18   Post-World War II poets, continued.
11/20   Lessing, “To Room Nineteen,” 2543. Poems by MacDiarmid, 2464; Bennett, 2469; and Gunn, 2582.
11/25   Thiong’o, from Decolonizing the Mind, 2535; Rushdie, “English,” 2539; and Achebe, “An Image of Africa,” 2709.
11/27   Happy Thanksgiving!
12/2     Heaney, poems, 2822.
12/4     Walcott, poems, 2586.

12/8     Final paper due. Suggested Topics
12/10   Final Examination, 8AM.