This course examines selected texts from the period 1890 to 1940 in the light of gender politics and polemics. The issue of sexual difference is central to modernism as it informs attempts to formulate a new aesthetic based on radicalised models of subjectivity and sexuality. Formulated partly through the developing discourses of psychoanalysis, primitivism, feminism, socialism and fascism, the concern with gender manifests itself in a variety of experiments with writing and being in the world in the period, the most representative of which are studied on this course. 

1 x 90min seminar per week over ten weeks as scheduled on MyCampus.

1 x 5hr conference TBA.

This is one of the Honours options in English Literature and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

ENGLIT4017  Modernism & the Politics of Gender

Essay (1000 words): 20%  

Essay (3000 words): 50%

Seminar and workshop contribution: 10%

Seminar presentation of 12 minutes: 20%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ study the literary period known as 'modernism' in depth via engagement with the politics of gender

■ investigate the textual and contextual manifestations of the concern with gender in the period

■ engage with contemporary and current theories of sexuality and relevant critical debates

■ develop research skills enabling the submission of an extended piece of assessed work

■ engage in independent and group learning

■ demonstrate resilience and time management through effectively planning, undertaking and submitting coursework.

■ deal with change and new challenges by applying their disciplinary skills and knowledge to previously unfamiliar research areas and questions.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ understand the representation of gender in the literature of the period and its relation to the concept of 'modernism'

■ deploy contemporary and recent critical theories of gender and sexual difference in their approach to texts of the period

■ make sophisticated use of printed and electronic resources as available in the University Library and in the unique website created for this course

■ communicate responses to the material studied on the course both orally and in written form through coherent and sustained argument.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.