In
this survey course we will explore the literary production of the
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Spanning two world wars, the
demise of the British Empire, post-war Britain up to post-Brexit
ambitions and anxieties, the literary texts bear witness to a sense of
contraction and centrifugation. We will thus be able to identify the
emergence of glocal perspectives with generic conventions called into
question. We will also consider the contribution of Anglophone writing
from around the globe and reflect on the idea of ‘English Literary
History’ in our time. I encourage debate and conversations; this lecture
is not a one-way street. We are in this together, exploring the prose,
poetry and plays that were shaped by our recent past and that play a
part in shaping our present.
All
the excerpts discussed in this lecture will be provided via a digital
platform and should be studied prior to the respective lecture.
- Dozent/in: Felix Sprang