ENG 337 - Studies in British Culture

The Home Front: British Literature of World War II
World War II, the deadliest international conflict in world history, destroyed the United Kingdom’s role as one of the great world empires, and also forever transformed the underpinnings of its class system and its system of government. Nevertheless, the British people to this day view their shattering wartime experience as one of the great unifying and refining experiences in their culture and their history. This course will look at literary works brought forth from the wartime experience of primarily British civilians from the period from 1939 to 1945 and its aftermath, paying particular attention to its expression through late literary modernism, and looking at how values of Britain during the time (particularly regarding class, gender, national identity, and national loyalties) were tested and reshaped. In addition to brief critical and historical readings, we will look at fictions by writers who lived through the war, who may include Elizabeth Bowen, Henry Green, Graham Greene, Penelope Lively, W.G. Sebald, Muriel Spark, and Evelyn Waugh. We will also see British films from the era by directors such as Alberto Cavalcanti, Humphrey Jennings, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, and Carol Reed.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): Two ENG courses at the 200-level or higher
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 4 times for credit
Notes: Not all topics offered every year. Review schedule of classes for availability. Review specific descriptions for applicability to department requirements.
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).