This is second of two courses designed to familiarize you with world literature (The first is ENGL 2120). This reading and writing intensive course covers the major literary movements during the years 1800 - 1950, including Romanticism, Realism-Naturalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. We will consider these movements in the context of precipitating and concurrent historical events: the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, fin de siècle decadence and the two world wars. We will also touch on critical theory, but the main aim of this course is to engage with works of literature personally, rather than through the lens of critics’ theories about them.
