Module Code - Title:
EH4008
-
BRITISH LITERATURE SINCE 1945
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
This module studies British literature from the end of the Second World War to the present day. Students will read a range of literary texts produced in the period and will contextualise them politically, socially and historically. Topics will include the impact of the Second World War and the concomitant erosion of the British Empire; the enduring legacy of modernist literary experimentalism in post-Second World War literature; the rise of various liberation movements, including womens and gay liberation and post-colonial challenges to notions of Britishness; the impact of literary theory and the emergence of postmodernism.
Syllabus:
This module covers British literature from 1945-present. Writers will include major novelists of the period such as Jean Rhys, Doris Lessing, Margaret Drabble, A. S. Byatt, Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson, Kazuo Ishiguro and Zadie Smith; poets such as Philip Larkin, Dylan Thomas, Derek Walcott, Geoffrey Hill and ted Hughes; and playwrights such as John Osborne, Joe Orton, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane. To define the themes and interpret this literature, students will become familiar with political, social and historical contexts (the Second World War, various liberation movements, the rise and fall of the welfare state), with significant concepts and philosophies (Thatcherism, postmodernism), and with literary movements (Angry Young Men, Kitchen Sink Realism, New Brutalists)
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:
Identify key themes in British literature 1945-present;
Examine texts in their cultural, social and political contexts.
Discuss issues relating to the literature of the period.
Locate texts within literary movements and philosophies.
Interpret and criticise texts through close reading.
Evaluate developments in British literature 1945-present.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
N/A
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
N/A
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
This module will be taught by lecture, tutorial discussion, assigned and recommended reading; and by research-based critical material. Lectures will combine contextualisation with close reading. Tutorials will have an emphasis on group-work, and through a focus on the critical discussion, will develop skills in reading, listening and communicating.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Greenblatt, Stephen (ed) (2007)
The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. F (8e)
, New York: W.W. Norton
Byatt, A. S. (1990)
Possession
, Random House
Drabble, Margaret (1969)
The Waterfall
, Harper Perennial
Ishiguro, Kazuo (1989)
The Remains of the Day
, Vintage
Lessing, Doris (1962)
The Golden Notebook
, Harper Perennial
Rhys Jean (1966)
Wide Sargasso Sea
, Norton
Rushdie, Salman (1981)
Midnights Children
, Random House
Smith Zadie (2005)
On Beauty
, Penguin
Winterson, Jeanette (1985)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
, Grove Press
Other Relevant Texts:
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Module Leader:
Niamh.Hehir@ul.ie