The Literature of the First World War

In this course we will study literature generated by observers of the Great War (1914-18) and its aftermath. We will examine the writing of War poets such as Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, and Robert Graves, and novelists such as Ernest Hemingway (A Farewell to Arms), Erich Maria Remarque (All Quiet on the Western Front), Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day), and Pat Barker (Regeneration). Personal accounts and visual art that take as their subject the Great War will also be discussed. We will also consider protest, trauma, grief, and memory, as well as the technical and stylistic innovations that emerged during this period. 3 hrs. Lect/Disc.