AJ44011 British Literature I (20th Century)

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2012
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 4 credit(s) (plus 2 credits for an exam). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each odd Friday 10:50–12:25 G31
Prerequisites (in Czech)
AJ40999 Qualifying Examination || AJ41002 Practical English II
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course aims at an overview of the literary production in prose, poetry and drama of the second half of the twentieth century. This is only possible if we focus on important developments, streams, movements or changes of direction and sample them on some works of just a few out of the many writers active in the period. The seminars will consist of short introductory lectures and discussion of critical essays, short stories and poems. Participants will also be required to read three novels from the period by writers of their choice. Students will acquire survey knowledge of the period and develop skills of critical reading of literary texts.
Syllabus
  • British Literature Since 1945 Week 1: Introduction;Postwar Years (Graham Greene The Invisible Japanese Gentleman; John Brannigan Small Disturbances); The Angry Decade (Alan Sillitoe The Fishing-boat Picture; Arthur Marwick Reactions in the early fifties) Week 2: Beyond Realism; the Gothic; Absurd Theatre (Muriel Spark The House of the Famous Poet); The Death of the Novel? The Campus Novel (David Lodge Hotel des Boobs; David Lodge The Novelist at the Crossroads) Week 3: Women Writers and Feminism (Fay Weldon Weekend; John Brannigan Discourse and subversion); The Postmodern Age (Ian McEwan Psychopolis; Kathleen Wheeler Post-Structuralist Theory and Fiction) Week 4: The Attractions of Postmodernity (Angela Carter Flesh and the Mirror; A.S. Byatt A New Body of Writing: Darwin and Recent British Fiction); Postmodern Representations of the Past (Rose Tremain My Wife is a White Russian; John Brannigan English elegies; The politics of farewell) Week 5: Mythology and Fairy Tales in Fiction and Poetry (Ted Hughes Arachne; Susan Sellers Myth versus Fairy tale); Beyond the Isles (Julian Barnes One of a Kind; John Brannigan Millennial Thinking)
Literature
  • CARTER, Ronald and John MCRAE. The Routledge history of literature in English: Britain and Ireland. Edited by Malcolm Bradbury. London: Routledge, 1997, xix, 592. ISBN 0415123437. info
  • BRANNIGAN, John. Orwell to the present : literature in England, 1945-2000. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, x, 244 s. ISBN 0-333-69616-6. info
  • HILSKÝ, Martin. Současný britský román. [Jinočany]: H & H, 1992, 191 s. ISBN 80-85467-00-3. info
  • FRANKOVÁ, Milada. Britské spisovatelky na konci tisíciletí (British Women Writers at the End of the Millennium). 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně, 1999, 206 pp. Spisy Masarykovy univerzity v Brně, FF, č. 325. ISBN 80-210-2148-9. info
  • FRANKOVÁ, Milada. Britské spisovatelky na přelomu tisíciletí (British Women Writers at the Turn of the Millennium). Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně, 2003. Spisy Masarykovy univerzity v Brně, 347. ISBN 80-210-3290-1. info
  • MASSIE, Allan. The novel today : a critical guide to the British novel, 1970-1989. London: Longman, 1990, vi, 97. ISBN 0582004071. info
  • STŘÍBRNÝ, Zdeněk. Dějiny anglické literatury. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 1987, s. 421-837. info
  • The Norton anthology of English literature. Edited by M. H. Abrams. 5th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1986, xlvi, 2578. ISBN 0393954722. info
  • The novel today :contemporary writers on modern fiction. Edited by Malcolm Bradbury. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977, 256 s. ISBN 0-7190-0677-5. info
  • SELDEN, Raman. A reader's guide to contemporary literary theory [27818]. Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989. ISBN 0-7450-0602-7. info
  • WELLEK, René and Austin WARREN. Theory of literature. 3rd ed. London: Penguin Books, 1963, 374 s. ISBN 0-14-055028-3. info
  • EAGLETON, Terry. Literary theory :an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 1983, viii, 244. ISBN 0-631-13259-7. info
Assessment methods
class participation, contributions to discussion, end-of-term oral examination
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught once in two years.
General note: This course is NOT designated for Erasmus students! List of courses offerd by the Department of English and American studies for Erasmsus students is available at http://www.phil.muni.cz/wkaa/ under "Information for Erasmus students".
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: This course is NOT designated for Erasmus students! List of courses offerd by the Department of English and American studies for Erasmsus students is available at http://www.phil.muni.cz/wkaa/ under "Information for Erasmus students".
Teacher's information
http://www.phil.muni.cz/elf/course/category.php?id=4
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2004, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2018.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2012, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2012/AJ44011