In this course we will read five novels illustrating the unparalleled creativity and complexity of the first half of the twentieth century. Beginning with the fiction of Virginia Woolf and Evelyn Waugh presents the opportunity to explore formal distinctions, the dynamics of place, and the psychological impact of the First World War. In Ireland and the British midlands, we will address artistic production and the changing character of modernity in the novels of James Joyce and D. H. Lawrence. Finally, we will travel to India with E. M. Forster to investigate national identity and the British Empire. Addressing the novels’ relations to larger artistic, political, and cultural trajectories, we will also become acquainted with primary and secondary sources addressing texts’ composition, reception, and historical contexts.

Course Packet

Texts:

• Virginia Woolf. Mrs. Dalloway. [0156030359]
• Evelyn WaughEvelyn Waugh. A Handful of Dust. [0316926058]
• James Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. [0393926796]
• D.H. Lawrence. Women in Love. [0141441542]
• E.M. Forster. A Passage to India. [0141441160]