HL1003 Survey of English Literature II

This survey aims to provide a stimulating introductory overview of influential literary works from the Romantics to contemporary writing. While the majority of texts will be drawn from the "classic," or canonical, works of English Literature, we shall also critically question the rationale of a canon-formation that focuses specifically on British writers. We shall trace European influences and debate the impact of popular culture on literary developments. In thus offering the study of a number of canonical and non-canonical texts, we will stress specifically the revolution in poetry achieved by the Romantics, the rise of the novel as a new genre, the experimental nature of nineteenth and twentieth-century literature, the impact of modernism and postmodernism, and the ways these developments have defined our understanding of literature and culture.