Contemporary British Literature

Paper Code: 
ENG 325
Credits: 
04
Periods/week: 
04
Max. Marks: 
100
Objective: 

The course will enable the students to:

  • Get introduced to the cultural and literary characteristics of the period  and trace the emergence of post (-War, -Empire,- Modern) sensibility in contemporary British literature
  • Analyse the influence of issues such as politics, history, ethnicity, geography, class and gender, in shaping the literature of the 20th century
  • Respond to the various poetic voices from the post-World War II era and discuss the contemporary reaction to traditional literary and cultural structures and concepts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.00
Unit I: 

Seamus Heaney

Whatever you say, say nothing

Punishment

Casualty

Philip Larkin

The Whitsun Weddings

Maiden Name

I Remember, I Remember

Thom Gunn

On The Move 

Autumn Chapter

12.00
Unit II: 

John Fowles

The French Lieutenant’s Woman

 

10.00
Unit III: 

Harold Pinter

The Homecoming

12.00
Unit IV: 

Muriel Spark

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

12.00
Unit V: 

Ian McEwan

Atonement 

SUGGESTED READINGS: 
  • Chaterjee, Sisir. Philip Larkin: Poetry that Builds Bridges. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 1999. Print.
  • Draper, Ronald P, ed. The Literature of Region and Nation. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989. Print.  
  • Esslin, Martin. Theatre of the Absurd. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. Print.
  • Marwick, Arthur. British Society since 1945. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1982. Print.
  • Motion, Andrew. Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life. London: Faber & Faber, 1994. Print.
  • Quigley, Austin.The Modern Stage and Other Words. London: Routledge, 2014. Print.
  • Scigaj, Leonard M. Critical Essays on Ted Hughes. New York : G.K. Hall, 2000. Print
Academic Year: 
2019-2020