This course is a critical study of novels by living British authors, analyzing them in terms of narrative structure, common themes and preoccupations and significant differences. Most of the authors are well known and highly acclaimed, although we will not necessarily be reading their most popular, nor most recent work. Some of the issues raised by these authors are: war (1914 to the present); the Holocaust; alternative sexualities and notions of gender; Englishness, and Post Colonialism. These issues will be considered in relation to the historical and contemporary context of the text.
Prerequisites:
Students will not be expected to have any prior acquaintance with these texts but they must be prepared to engage with an intense reading and learning experience and to approach the material with an open mind.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students will have encountered and engaged with many of the contentious political, social, psychological and sexual issues raised by the authors of these occasionally controversial texts, and afforded them an historical and personal context. They will have developed their own writing skills through the completion of writing assignments, and will expand their definition of the role and rationale of literature in contemporary Britain.
Method of presentation:
The sessions will usually take the form of a brief lecture by the tutor followed by an open discussion in which all students will be expected to participate and contribute.
Required work and form of assessment:
Mid-term writing assignment (open) 25%
Long essay on one of the texts under discussion (2,000 words min.) 30%
Final examination (closed) 35%
General participation 10%
Full attendance is of course, mandatory, as is the reading of every text in full.
Grades are given according to the standard letter scale used for university students (A, A-, B+, etc. down to F). Students are assessed on the extent to which they demonstrate a measured awareness of the architecture topics under study, investigate secondary sources, and offer original contributions through analysis and argument.
content:
Week 1: Introduction
An overview of the period under discussion – from 1985 to the present day - putting the writers and their readers into context.
Week 2: Songs of Innocence
Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory, 1985
This was Banks’ (one of Britain’s most prolific novelists) first novel and it caused an uproar on its publication at the height of Thatcherism. We will be considering it as an example of the traditional bildungsroman and hopefully enjoying its very black humour.
Week 3: Dulce et Decorum Est
Pat Barker, Regeneration, 1995
The first of Barker’s trilogy about the psychological effects of ‘The Great War’ on soldiers and civilians introduces us to themes that will recur throughout the course: madness, masculinity and the horror of war.
Week 4: The Age of Horrorism
Martin Amis, Time’s Arrow, 1991
Amis’ unique take on the Holocaust proved controversial on its publication and still invites complex and often contradictory responses in the reader. It is a subject with which many writers of the late 20th century have attempted to engage – how could they not?
Week 5: Field Trip - Visit to the Imperial War Museum
At the museum will be able to see evidence of both World Wars and their impact. The students will use their time there to do the research necessary for the completion of the mid-term writing assignment.
Week 6: Brave New Worlds
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, 2005
Since Thomas More’s Utopia of 1516 writers have imagined ideal environments for humankind. In the 20th century these Utopias have invariably become alarmingly dystopian – Ishiguro’s ‘England’ however, is remarkably familiar.
Week 7: Field Trip -Visit to the National Portrait Gallery
This will constitute an illustrated history of British Literature, starting with More’s Utopia, up to the present day where by students should have a sense of the tradition contemporary writers paradoxically both embrace and reject.
Week 8: Facilitating Evil
Giles Foden, The Last King of Scotland, 1998
Blair called Africa “a scar on the conscience of the West” – it is certainly a major preoccupation of novel writers. Foden’s ‘good man in Africa’ is a young doctor acting as the personal surgeon of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin who is a study in evil. We will also be looking at the film version and considering the significance of the striking changes to the narrative.
Week 9: Love Stories
Ian McEwan, Enduring Love, 1997
McEwan is one of the best-known British authors writing today and held in both affection and esteem by academics and the public. This novel is remarkable for its wealth of subject matter and its narrative structure.
Week 10: Field Trip -The British Library and the Local Literati
Starting at the British Library on the Euston Road we will gape in awe at the treasures of world literature in the public galleries and walk back to the college through Bloomsbury – the area which gave its name to perhaps the most innovative literary movement of the 20th century, The Bloomsbury Group, whose members were amongst the greatest exponents of what we now consider to be the ‘Modern Novel’ and indeed, Modernism.
Week 11: Motherlands
Andrea Levy, Small Island, 2004
Levy’s much lauded fourth novel illustrates the effects of war and of colonialism on the lives of both the colonised and the colonising. We will be considering ideas of England, race and class in a text that charts the beginnings of the multi-cultural society that is 21st century Britain.
Week 12: Crossing the Line
Luke Sutherland, Venus as a Boy, 2005
In a London novel that begins in the most northerly part of Britain Sutherland invites us to consider the complexities of human sexuality through a central character who is both mythic and contemporary.
Required readings:
All the set texts must be read in full in advance of the relevant class. Moreover, handouts from relevant critical works, newspaper articles and reviews will be made available as necessary.
Notes:
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Julie Charalambides has been teaching on Study Abroad programs for 15 years. She has a Master of Arts degree in English Romantic Literature and spent several years researching European Erotic Writings. She also works as a contributing editor for a literary magazine.
Modern British Novel
This course is a critical study of novels by living British authors, analyzing them in terms of narrative structure, common themes and preoccupations and significant differences. Most of the authors are well known and highly acclaimed, although we will not necessarily be reading their most popular, nor most recent work. Some of the issues raised by these authors are: war (1914 to the present); the Holocaust; alternative sexualities and notions of gender; Englishness, and Post Colonialism. These issues will be considered in relation to the historical and contemporary context of the text.
Students will not be expected to have any prior acquaintance with these texts but they must be prepared to engage with an intense reading and learning experience and to approach the material with an open mind.
By the end of the course, students will have encountered and engaged with many of the contentious political, social, psychological and sexual issues raised by the authors of these occasionally controversial texts, and afforded them an historical and personal context. They will have developed their own writing skills through the completion of writing assignments, and will expand their definition of the role and rationale of literature in contemporary Britain.
The sessions will usually take the form of a brief lecture by the tutor followed by an open discussion in which all students will be expected to participate and contribute.
Mid-term writing assignment (open) 25%
Long essay on one of the texts under discussion (2,000 words min.) 30%
Final examination (closed) 35%
General participation 10%
Full attendance is of course, mandatory, as is the reading of every text in full.
Grades are given according to the standard letter scale used for university students (A, A-, B+, etc. down to F). Students are assessed on the extent to which they demonstrate a measured awareness of the architecture topics under study, investigate secondary sources, and offer original contributions through analysis and argument.
Week 1: Introduction
An overview of the period under discussion – from 1985 to the present day - putting the writers and their readers into context.
Week 2: Songs of Innocence
Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory, 1985
This was Banks’ (one of Britain’s most prolific novelists) first novel and it caused an uproar on its publication at the height of Thatcherism. We will be considering it as an example of the traditional bildungsroman and hopefully enjoying its very black humour.
Week 3: Dulce et Decorum Est
Pat Barker, Regeneration, 1995
The first of Barker’s trilogy about the psychological effects of ‘The Great War’ on soldiers and civilians introduces us to themes that will recur throughout the course: madness, masculinity and the horror of war.
Week 4: The Age of Horrorism
Martin Amis, Time’s Arrow, 1991
Amis’ unique take on the Holocaust proved controversial on its publication and still invites complex and often contradictory responses in the reader. It is a subject with which many writers of the late 20th century have attempted to engage – how could they not?
Week 5: Field Trip - Visit to the Imperial War Museum
At the museum will be able to see evidence of both World Wars and their impact. The students will use their time there to do the research necessary for the completion of the mid-term writing assignment.
Week 6: Brave New Worlds
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, 2005
Since Thomas More’s Utopia of 1516 writers have imagined ideal environments for humankind. In the 20th century these Utopias have invariably become alarmingly dystopian – Ishiguro’s ‘England’ however, is remarkably familiar.
Week 7: Field Trip -Visit to the National Portrait Gallery
This will constitute an illustrated history of British Literature, starting with More’s Utopia, up to the present day where by students should have a sense of the tradition contemporary writers paradoxically both embrace and reject.
Week 8: Facilitating Evil
Giles Foden, The Last King of Scotland, 1998
Blair called Africa “a scar on the conscience of the West” – it is certainly a major preoccupation of novel writers. Foden’s ‘good man in Africa’ is a young doctor acting as the personal surgeon of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin who is a study in evil. We will also be looking at the film version and considering the significance of the striking changes to the narrative.
Week 9: Love Stories
Ian McEwan, Enduring Love, 1997
McEwan is one of the best-known British authors writing today and held in both affection and esteem by academics and the public. This novel is remarkable for its wealth of subject matter and its narrative structure.
Week 10: Field Trip -The British Library and the Local Literati
Starting at the British Library on the Euston Road we will gape in awe at the treasures of world literature in the public galleries and walk back to the college through Bloomsbury – the area which gave its name to perhaps the most innovative literary movement of the 20th century, The Bloomsbury Group, whose members were amongst the greatest exponents of what we now consider to be the ‘Modern Novel’ and indeed, Modernism.
Week 11: Motherlands
Andrea Levy, Small Island, 2004
Levy’s much lauded fourth novel illustrates the effects of war and of colonialism on the lives of both the colonised and the colonising. We will be considering ideas of England, race and class in a text that charts the beginnings of the multi-cultural society that is 21st century Britain.
Week 12: Crossing the Line
Luke Sutherland, Venus as a Boy, 2005
In a London novel that begins in the most northerly part of Britain Sutherland invites us to consider the complexities of human sexuality through a central character who is both mythic and contemporary.
All the set texts must be read in full in advance of the relevant class. Moreover, handouts from relevant critical works, newspaper articles and reviews will be made available as necessary.
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
Julie Charalambides has been teaching on Study Abroad programs for 15 years. She has a Master of Arts degree in English Romantic Literature and spent several years researching European Erotic Writings. She also works as a contributing editor for a literary magazine.