The course discusses the major works of 19th and early 20th century British writers in two complementary streams: the Victorians (Dickens, Thackeray, the Brontë sisters, George Eliot, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy) and the Modernists (W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett). Students will gain specialist knowledge of both traditional and experimental works, as well as experience of relevant theoretical approaches. Topic courses are designed to allow students to undertake detailed work across a range of periods and media within Victorian and Modernist studies.
The seminar classes will focus on the in-depth study of some important literary works touched upon in the course. The poems, novels, and plays discussed in class cover the period between the early 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.