ENGL 213 is designed to serve as an introduction to twentieth century literature from a broadly cultural point of view, focusing on representative works that illustrate literary and intellectual developments since 1900. This course will situate modernism and postmodernism as reactions to a profound crisis of spirituality in the West, a crisis engendered by the intellectual turn toward secular relativism in the nineteenth century. We will also examine how writers experimented with language and form to represent the altered sense of space, time, and the self engendered by modernity and postmodernity. Primary texts will include poems, short stories, and novels. The overall course goals are to hone your: 1) critical thinking skills; 2) ability to analyze literary texts; and 3) ability to write about literature. Student responsibilities include daily attendance, active participation in discussions and activities, two brief online posts, two short paper proposals, and two 5-7 page papers with revisions that satisfy the university “W” credit.

Course Reader, which will include short stories, journal articles, and other short readings

Texts:

• Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis Trans. and Ed. Stanley Corngold. New York: Norton, 1996. [0393967972]
• Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. Ed. Bonnie Kime Scott. San Diego: Harvest/Harcourt, 2005. [0156030357]
• Gide, Andre. The Counterfeiters. Trans. Dorothy Bussy. New York: Vintage, 1973. [0394718429]
• Maugham, W. Somerset. The Razor’s Edge. New York: Vintage, 2003. [1400034205]
• Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse Five. New York: Dial, 1999. [0385333846]
• DeLillo, Don. White Noise: Text and Criticism. Ed. Mark Osteen. New York: Viking/Penguin, 1998. [0140274987]
• Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th Ed). New York, 2009. [1603290249]