This module will explore and analyse selected works of interwar fiction (novel, drama, short fiction, film) by American authors. It will focus on the response of that writing to such prevailing social and national issues as the legacy and imminence of war; communism, socialism, and labour movements in America; capitalism and the ‘American Dream’; technology, modernity, and the individual; New Deal politics; race, history, and modern America; the public performance of gender and sexuality; and the position of the writer within contemporary culture. Equally central to this module is a focus on the aesthetic language through which these responses are articulated, particularly in the context of the many literary and cultural innovations that characterized that moment. Discussions will consider such topics as modernism and modernity; the self-conscious development of an American style and literary canon; Southern Agrarians, regionalism and the city; the relationship between journalism and literature; the relationship between genre fiction and ‘serious’ literature; and the relationship between literature, drama, and mainstream cinema.

• analyse works within the context of the culture and history that produced them
• discuss American fiction of the period from a variety of critical perspectives
• develop critical skills in note-taking and independent research
• engage critically with the texts studied in order to formulate individual argumentative conclusions

The module will consist of two lectures a week and two one-hour seminars towards the end of the semester. Lectures will provide students with an introduction to social, cultural, and historical context. They will provide an overview of key critical approaches to these texts, and a close analytical reading of individual works. In weeks in which films are being discussed, the lectures will also screen excerpts. These screenings will be accompanied with a discussion of themes and form – and an overview of key issues to take into account when considering the relationship between literature and film.

Students will be expected to come to class prepared: they will be expected both to have read the texts in advance of the lectures. It is highly recommended that students read the set texts before the start of the module. Films will be available for loan from the library.

This module will develop and practise skills in close reading and independent scholarly research. It will encourage students to build upon their ability to formulate and articulate an informed analytical opinion. Students will be encouraged to contemplate the connections and tensions between the texts studied, and to formulate original arguments around that relationship. In so doing, they will develop their ability to synthesize information and to push ideas into independent, informed conclusions. Students will be encouraged particularly to investigate key thematic and aesthetic preoccupations of the literature studied, and to contemplate form, narrative voice, and the relationship between style and theme.

These essential skills will be developed in an assessment that will help students to improve and refine writing skills. Employability skills that will be developed in this module include the ability to synthesize information, problem-solve, write argumentatively and convincingly, and research independently.

This module is assessed by one 3200-word essay.

The module is assessed according to the Marking Criteria set out in the module guide. There are otherwise no academic or competence standards which limit the availability of adjustments or alternative assessments for students with disabilities.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

In accordance with University regulations, students are allowed two attempts at retrieval of any failed essay, for a maximum module mark of 40%.  Resit assessments are held over the summer.

The main readings for this module are novels, plays, critical essays, and films. Students should contact the module leader as early as possible if they will require readings in an alternative format.

Week 1. Introduction. Social and Cultural Context

Week 2. The ‘Lost Generation’: myth-making and style

                Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (1926)

Week 3. Race, Modernity, and Cultural Historiography.

                Nella Larsen, Passing (1929)

                Film excerpts: Birth of a Nation (1915)

Week 4. Expressionism, Social Diversity, and the Modern American Theatre

                Eugene O’Neill, The Emperor Jones (1920)

Week 5. The American South and Literary Modernism

                William Faulkner, Light in August (1932)

Week 6. The Great Depression: American Realism and the Socialist Imperative

               John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle (1933)

Week 7. Genre Fiction I: Hard-Boiled and Hardened

                Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key (1930)

                Film excerpts: The Public Enemy (1931); Scarface (1932); The Thin Man (1934)

Week 8. Genre Fiction II: Modern Frontiers and National Origins

                Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Ox-Bow Incident (1940)

                Film excerpts: Stagecoach (1939)

Week 9. Hollywood Writers, Hays, and the Ideology of Genre

Primary films: The Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933); The Women (1939)

Film excerpts: Top Hat (1935)

Week 10. Legacies and Directions

Essays and/or short fiction by some of Stephen Vincent Benét, John Dos Passos, Edna Ferber, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Sinclair Lewis, Anita Loos, Carson McCullers, Dorothy Parker, Robert Penn Warren may be distributed in class

Primary Literary Texts:

Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (Vintage)

Nella Larsen, Passing (Dover)

William Faulkner, Light in August (Vintage)

Eugene O’Neill, The Emperor Jones (Nick Hern)

John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle (Penguin)

Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key (Orion)

Walter Van Tilburg, The Ox-Bow Incident (Penguin)

Excerpts from the following films may be shown in class:

Birth of a Nation (1915)

The Public Enemy (1931)

Scarface (1932)

The Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

The Thin Man (1934)

Top Hat (1935)

The Women (1939)

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Stagecoach (1939)

Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

A list of indicative secondary reading will be provided in class.

Further information about recommended reading will be provided at the start of the module.