English 960: LITERATURE OF EMPIRE

Professor Kathryn Conrad
7-9:30 Wednesday, 3132 Wescoe

Course Description

In this course, we will focus on writing from the "twilight years" of the British Empire:  the turn of the 20th century until today. Empire continued to shape British culture--and British anxiety--well after its height in the Victorian period.  We will read from a variety of genres and texts, ranging from some of the racial theory that ostensibly justified the imperial enterprise to the ostensibly pro-imperialist fiction of the Modernist period to contemporary reexaminations of Empire and its relationship to a variety of other desires. In doing so, we will explore what it means to be an "imperial subject" by examining how Empire shaped and was shaped by sexuality, class, race, nationalism, and gender. We will also examine how literature variously supported, complicated, and resisted the imperial project.

Although this is not primarily a postcolonial literature course, we will read some more recent writing by postcolonial authors and critics. This course should appeal to students interested in cultural studies, postcolonial theory and literature, feminist and queer theory, and Modernist and contemporary literature as well as those preparing for examinations.  No background in either the period or the theory is expected.

Texts

We will read primary texts by Matthew Arnold, Joseph Conrad, E.M. Forster, Rudyard Kipling, Joyce Cary, Jean Rhys, Caryl Churchill, and Brian Friel, as well as some texts selected by the class. Criticism will include works by Hall, Viswanathan, Achebe, McClintock, and others.

Requirements

Students will be expected to deliver one substantial presentation, participate in class discussion, and write one critical paper of 20-30 pages.

Victorian and fin-de-siecle

• Jack Lynch's Victorian resources.
• Voice of the Shuttle Victorian resources.
• The Victorian Web at Brown.
• Victorian Women Writers project.

Modern and contemporary

• Jack Lynch's Twentieth-Century British and Irish resources page.
• Voice of the Shuttle Modern British resources.
• Voice of the Shuttle Contemporary  resources.

Theory

• Voice of the Shuttle Postcolonial (and Colonial) Studies resources.
• Voice of the Shuttle Globalism resources.
• Voice of the Shuttle Area Studies resources
• Voice of the Shuttle Cultural Studies resources.
• Voice of the Shuttle Literary Theory resources.

General/Miscellaneous

• KU Library web site.
• Jack Lynch's Literary Resources homepage.
• Voice of the Shuttle English literature main page.
• Celebration of Women Writers website.
• Prose and verse criticism of poetry (including poets commenting on other poets)--U Toronto library.