The Post-War: 1945 to the present
Overview
- Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
- Convenor: Sean O'Brien (subject to change)
- Tutors: Sean O'Brien, Mpalive-Hangson Msiska
- Assessment: one essay (100%)
Module description
This module aims to analyse the historical transformations of literature and cultural thought since 1945, using the contexts of post-war reconstruction, decolonisation, the fate of avant-garde art, and theories of postmodernity and globalisation. The emergence of international literary paradigms during the twentieth century is reflected in the choice of texts from British, American and post-colonial contexts.
Indicative module syllabus
- Introduction to the Module: Periodising the Post-War
- 1940s: Late Modernism
- 1950s: Postwar Poetics
- 1960s: Counter-Culture
- 1970: Feminism & Dissensus
- 1980s: High Postmodernism
- Contemporary Narratives: Migration and Transnationalism
- Contemporary Narratives: Trauma
- Contemporary Narratives: Speculative Fiction
- Dissertation Planning
Learning objectives
By the end of this module, you should have:
- formed an understanding of the relations between literature and cultural history in the post-war period
- explored some of the key paradigms of understanding post-1945 literature, ranging from the ‘post-war’ to the ‘post-colonial’ to the ‘post-modern’
- developed the ability to read texts closely and consider the specific textual strategies employed by different writers in this era
- engaged with ideas of ‘the contemporary’ as both a period and a concept
- demonstrated a thorough grounding in the key concepts for literary study of modernity
- recognised the post-war as a historical category, postmodernism, globalisation and the contemporary
- situated post-1945 texts within a number of historical, literary and broader cultural contexts
- researched and written an essay demonstrating this knowledge and understanding.