ENGL 40427 - War, Economic Depression and Ideological Contest in British Writing of the 1930s

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

British writing of the 1930s was shaped by economic and political crisis, and the resulting ideological and aesthetic struggles begin to look all too contemporary. This course will look at the poetry of the Auden circle and Marxism; at the early sociological work of Mass Observation and the documentaries of Humphrey Jennings; at the scientism of the Cambridge group around William Empson, Jacob Bronowski and J.D. Bernal; at responses to the Spanish Civil War, both left and conservative, including those of George Orwell, Wyndham Lewis and Roy Campbell; and at the fiction writers Elizabeth Bowen, Christopher Isherwood, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh and Edward Upward and their different treatments of social and political pressure points. This broad range will be focused through a group of texts selected for their mutual contentiousness. Throughout, the responsibilities and irresponsibilities of writers during perilous times will be in question.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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