War In Literature And Film

This course looks at war and culture, with a focus on twentieth-century literature and film. We will consider how literary forms and film have developed to make sense of the twentieth century's mass wars, how wars are imagined and remembered, and how war has influenced aesthetic and cultural movements. Readings will center on the First World War, the Second World War, the Vietnam War, and more recent conflicts such as the war in Iraq. We will continually revisit issues of national identity, memory, gender, irony, and protest, while paying close attention to the language and images of war.