Program Overview

Course Description and Objectives

This course is an introductory, yet intensive, survey of representative contemporary British writers from approximately 1950 to the present. The focus will be on writers' responses to earlier traditions of realism and modernism, exploring the techniques of narrative fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry offered by their work. The course will also trace the themes that these authors raise as they respond to and contribute to the increasingly postmodern and postcolonial experience of British culture. Cultural, historical, and theoretical context will be integrated into discussion through lectures and secondary readings, allowing for the situating of close readings of the texts within the historical moment of their production and reception.

Required Texts

• Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day (1988)
• Osborne, Look Back in Anger (1956)
• Sillitoe, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1958; UK Edition)
• Lodge, Changing Places (1975)
• Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary (1997)
• Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) (Norton Critical Edition)
• Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969)
• Winterson, Sexing the Cherry (1989)
• Churchill, Cloud 9 (1978)
• Roy, The God of Small Things (1997)
• Stoppard, Arcadia (1993)
• Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1980)
• Selected poetry of Larkin, Hughes, Raine, Harrison, Walcott, Adcock, Cope, Heaney
• Selected fiction and critical readings
• Selected films, TV shows, and music (Class Pack available at A&S Copy Center in Eisenhower Hall)

Requirements and General Expectations

Class Participation and Attendance

Class participation is required. To participate, students must complete the reading assigned for each class session, think carefully about what they have read, and come to class ready to share their ideas. Attendance is important, with the first three absences not penalized; thereafter, the final course grade will drop one grade for each day missed. Excessive absences (six or more) may result in failure of the course.

Leading Class Discussion

Students will sign up individually or in pairs to initiate discussion for one of the class sessions. Discussion leaders will encourage exploration of the connections between the secondary readings and the novel. In most cases, discussion topics are provided; if not, the discussion leaders will select the focus.

Papers and Response Papers

All students will write one shorter paper (5 pages in length). Undergraduates will also write a longer paper (7-8 pages in length), while graduate students will write a longer paper with secondary sources (10 pages in length), an essay review of four articles or a book-length study about one of the authors, and a one-page abstract for the longer paper. Papers should follow the general rules of composition, be typed or word-processed with standard double-spacing, 1-inch margins, and either 10- or 12-point typeface.

Students will also write six weekly response papers (2 pages in length) in response to the readings. Response papers are designed to prepare students for class discussion and to explore ideas that could be developed further in longer papers.

Grading

Undergraduate Students

• The two papers will count for 40% of the final grade (15% and 25% respectively).
• Response papers will count for 20% of the final grade.
• Class participation (20%) and a final exam (20%) complete the requirements.

Graduate Students

• The shorter paper will count for 10% of the final grade.
• The essay review will count for 10% of the final grade.
• The longer paper and its abstract will count for 25% of the final grade.
• Response papers will count for 20% of the final grade.
• Class participation (20%) and a final exam (15%) complete the requirements.

Schedule of Classes

The schedule outlines the readings and topics to be covered each week, including discussions, film screenings, and guest lectures. Key dates for paper submissions and exams are also included.

Electronic Bulletin Board

The electronic bulletin board will be used as an additional venue for discussion, where each student should post at least once a week, responding to an existing thread or initiating a new one. Posting to the bulletin board will count towards half of the class participation grade, with participation in class counting for the remaining half.

Online, Video, and Audio Resources

Along with required viewing, online resources will be made available to complement readings and discussions, including links to contemporary British culture and literature, literary news, and author biographies.