Early Twentieth-Century Fiction, Fall 2023

The early twentieth century was an epoch of global social upheaval: world wars, revolutions, mass migrations, the rise and decline of empires. The literature of the same period has long been seen as revolutionary in its own right, a “modernist movement” that responds to the shocks of the time with artistic shocks of its own. But modernism is not the whole story of this period of literary history; it is only one current in a much broader field of literature. This course teaches you how to analyze the forms and themes of exemplary English-language fictions, understanding their diversity and complexity in terms of social struggle and collaboration. Alongside some classic modernist novels, we will explore three other significant literary developments of the time: the detective novel, the Harlem Renaissance, and Indian writing in English.

Course commonplace book: e20fic23.blogs.rutgers.edu

This page will be updated with links to in-class materials. Detailed syllabus: syllabus.pdf.

Last updated: September 14, 2023.

  • September 7. Introduction.

  • September 11. James.

    • James, “The Middle Years.”
  • September 14. Joyce (1).

    • Joyce, Portrait, chap. 1.
  • September 18. Joyce (2).

    • Joyce, Portrait, chaps. 1–2.
  • September 21. Joyce (3).

    • Joyce, Portrait, chaps. 1–3.
  • September 25. Joyce (4).

    • Joyce, Portrait, chaps. 1–4.
  • September 28. Joyce (5).

    • Joyce, Portrait, complete.
  • October 2. Woolf (1).

    • Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, 3–92.
  • October 5. Woolf (2).

    • Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, complete.
  • October 9. Woolf (3).

    • Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, complete.
    • Woolf, “Modern Fiction.”
  • October 12. Faulkner (1).

    • Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, 3–81.
  • October 16. Faulkner (2).

    • Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, 3–179.
  • October 19. Faulkner (3).

    • Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, complete.
    • Lester, “As They Lay Dying.”
  • October 23. Sayers (1).

    • Sayers, Whose Body?, chaps. 1–6.
    • Chesterton, “A Defence of Detective Stories.”
  • (October 24. Paper 1 due.)

  • October 26. Sayers (2).

    • Sayers, Whose Body?, complete.
  • October 30. Hammett (1).

    • Hammett, Maltese Falcon, chaps. 1–5.
  • November 2. Hammett (2).

    • Hammett, Maltese Falcon, chaps. 1–13.
  • November 6. Hammett (3).

    • Hammett, Maltese Falcon, complete.
    • Chandler, “The Simple Art of Murder.”
    • McCann, Gumshoe America, 87–91 (optionally, 91–102).
  • November 9. Midterm.

  • November 13. Toomer.

    • Toomer, Cane: all of pt. 1, “Seventh Street,” “Avey,” “Bona and Paul.”
  • November 16. Hurston (1).

    • Hurston, Their Eyes, 1–99.
  • November 20. Hurston (2).

    • Hurston, Their Eyes, 1–153.
  • November 27. Hurston (3).

    • Hurston, Their Eyes, complete.
    • Carby, “The Politics of Fiction, Anthropology, and the Folk.”
  • November 30. Tagore.

    • Tagore, “The Postmaster.”
    • Tagore, “The Hungry Stones.”
  • December 4. Anand (1).

    • Anand, Untouchable.
  • December 7. Anand (2).

    • Anand, Untouchable, complete.
  • December 11. Anand (3).

    • Anand, Untouchable, complete.
    • Anand, “On the Genesis of Untouchable.”
  • (December 12. Paper 2 due.)