In English 242 we will examine the novel from the nineteenth century to the postmodern era, focusing specifically on the theme of postwar life. In her recent book, War at a Distance, Mary Favret considers how “military conflict on a global scale looked and felt to a population whose armies and navies waged war for decades, but always at a distance. For those at home, the task was to find sentient ground for what often appeared a free-floating, impersonal military operation, removed from their immediate sensory perception” (9). The characters in our novels are no longer fighting wars at a distance but re-approaching their everyday lives. For those characters that never left home, they must readjust to ruined houses and finances, changing power dynamics, and a schedule no longer interrupted (or regulated) by the threat of invasion. Structurally, these novels take place after the climactic battle scene. What can we say about a novel that begins at the dénouement? Are these novels stuck in an ironic mode, without direction, hope, or a clear hero? While a postwar novel might sound bleak, such directionless and confusing periods in history might offer the chance for significantly different ways of thinking, living, and art-making.

Students should be prepared to write two 5-7 page papers. In the first section of the course, we will learn how to write an academic literary essay, using Jane Austen’s Persuasion as our text. For the second paper, students can focus on one of the three remaining texts by Virginia Woolf, Muriel Spark, or Ian McEwan.