ENGL-2420 WWI and Modern Literature
(TEXTS & CONTEXTS) In his significant study The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell entitles a chapter "Oh What a Literary War." And it certainly was, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the difficulties expressing this war posed. Those who experienced it, particularly the men and women who served on the Western Front, found that not only had their culture ill prepared them to articulate the realities of trench warfare, but that the home front resisted hearing reflections of those realities. This course will explore the pervasive tensions imbedded in writing the Great War and the experimental literary movements that were shaped by those tensions. Through prose, fiction, and poetry, students will encounter prewar optimism, wartime experiences on the home and western fronts, and the challenges of returning to civilian life.