“Trauma and the English novel”
The course aims to introduce the development of the English novel from the Victorian age to postmodernism, with a particular focus on the representation of trauma. The following topics will be covered during the course: the history of the English novel; the characteristics of the Victorian, modernist and postmodernist novel; literary theories; modern British culture; literature and trauma; analysis of the novels Heart of Darkness, Mrs Dalloway and Time’s Arrow.
Bibliography:
Novels:
J. Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899)
V. Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (1925)
M. Amis, Time’s Arrow (1991)
Critical texts:
• All the materials (essays, slides…) uploaded on the elearning website throughout the semester
• M. Higgins, C. Smith and J. Storey, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Culture, Cambridge University Press, 2010: introduction, chapters 1, 6, 7 + 2 more chapters to be chosen by the student
• A. Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature, Clarendon Press: chapters 7, 8, 9, 10.
All texts (novels and critical texts, including lecture slides and essays on the elearning website) are compulsory for all students.
Oral exam
