This seminar will investigate the ways in which, during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, British literature has responded to various crisis points which have forced a reflection on the place of Great Britain in the world. We will read and analyse canonical and contemporary novels which seek to reflect and interrogate anxieties related to political uncertainties, gender, sexuality, race, and class. These readings will be buttressed by critical interventions from the fields of gender studies, postcolonial & decolonial studies, and literary critique.
Corpus:
Virginia Woolf, Orlando (1928 ; Vintage, 2016)
Graham Swift, Waterland (1983 ; Everyman, 2013)
Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton, 2019)
- Enseignant.e: Fiona Mccann