239797 The First World War in Britain: Literary and Cultural Representations (S) (SoSe 2014)

The First World War looms large in British cultural memory. It is regarded as the ur-catastrophe of the 20th century, a watershed event that affected the relationship between the classes and the genders in British society, and that shaped the feeling of national identity. From the end of the war until today, novelists, playwrights, poets, autobiographers and filmmakers and have engaged with the experience and memory of the First World War. In this seminar, we will read a theatre play (R.C. Sherriff’s Journey’s End), poems, extracts from autobiographies, some short stories and a novel (Pat Barker, Another World).

Literaturangaben

A reader containing the play, the poems, the extracts from autobiographies and the short stories will be made available towards the beginning of the semester. Participants are expected to buy their own copy of Pat Barker’s novel Another World.