Course: English 200 A
Instructor: Tyler Babbie

Modernism in Magazines: Literature Before WWI

In the years before World War One, artists working in many genres such as, poetry, fiction, drama, music, criticism, and visual art were talking about a new kind of art called modernism. This class will survey the conversation where it happened: the literary magazines. English modernism emerged in London roughly one hundred years ago. Debates about innovative forms in painting, music, poetry, fiction, and drama all took place in the literary reviews, which have since been digitized and are housed in a public online archive. Students will explore this archive and experience modern literature in its original context. Poets like H.D., Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Rabindranath Tagore, and W.B. Yeats shared space with authors of fiction like James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, and Rebecca West. They took inspiration from painters and sculptors, who responded with works of their own. New art appeared in journals like The Egoistand Poetry. Radical politics emerged in journals like The Masses, The New Age, and W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Crisis. Intense debates about the future of art took place in the context of new feminist movements, fights against racial injustice, and the ominous immanence of World War One. Students will enter this period through its texts, and take part in the conversation themselves. This course is writing intensive and satisfies the "W" requirement.

All course texts will be drawn from the public domain, and in particular The Modernist Journals Project archive at http://modjourn.org/.