Modernism/Postmodernism Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This course explores literature of the twentieth century in relation to the capacious concepts of ‘modernism’ and ‘postmodernism’: two overarching ‘isms’ which dominate canonic interpretations of the first and second halves of the twentieth century in Western literary and cultural studies today. Students will engage with different definitions of these terms, and are encouraged to refine their interpretation of these ‘isms’ as they proceed through the course, both studying writers who are generally considered modernist and postmodern, and testing the usefulness of the concepts for interpreting the work of other writers not straightforwardly categorised by these two dominant rubrics. Students will also explore the significant historical contexts and social changes in which modernist and postmodern art was produced and to which it responded, including war, democratisation, gender modernization, urbanisation, and evolving media and communications technologies. The political valencies of the art commonly defined as modernist and postmodern will be considered. Finally, the usefulness of these terms in application to today’s world – geographically as well as temporally conceived – will be explored.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students in their studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures/seminars/labs/studios/workshops

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group.

OR

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups.

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

The assignments will require students to use a range of techniques to engage with modernist and postmodern forms of culture both per se, and in relation to certain other related topics. Students will also be required to reflect on the usefulness of the terms ‘modernism’ and ‘postmodernism’, including in their possible application to the modern world.

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Bradbury, M. and J. McFarlane (eds) Modernism: A Guide to European Literature 1890– 1930 (London: Penguin, 1991)
• Jameson, Fredric, Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (London: Verso Books, 1991)
• Joyce, James, Ulysses (Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 2008)
• ●              Coe, Jonathan, What a Carve Up! (London: Penguin, 2008)

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Modernist literature and technology
• Modernist literature and visual art
• Postmodern literature and capitalism
• The political valencies of modernism and postmodernism
• The applicability of the concepts of modernism and postmodernism to the present