At the beginning of the twentieth century, the British Empire was losing its grip on many of its external colonies and India was no exception. The Indian independence movement took full shape during this time and authors from both sides, including Rudyard Kipling, E.M. Forster and Rabrindranath Tagore captured national and individual struggles in novel form. In this course, we will position novels by British writers against their Indian contemporaries to more thoroughly comprehend the political, cultural and spatial ramifications of colonization and the emergence of modern nations. Students will consider how 20th century writers used the form to represent, negate, and even redesign the boundaries between England and India. In an attempt to focus the reading, this course will concentrate on the issues of mobility, race, national identity, dislocation, adaptation, colonialism and empire as they are written into the modern novel.

Central readings will include: Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore, Waiting for the Mahatma by R.K. Narayan, Untouchable by Mulk Anand Raj, Far to Seek by Maud Diver, and E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India, among others.

General Method of Instruction: Discussion.

Student Responsibilities and Evaluation: Course work includes a willingness to challenge one's current aesthetic values about British literature and keep an open mind; weekly engaged, in-person critical discussion; critical written analysis of novels and their relevant critical work. Evaluation will include oral presentations, essays and quizzes.