ENGL 363-01, 20th Century British Literature, Fall 2007

Abstract

The years following the Second World War comprised one of the most unstable periods of modern British history. In the face of continued Austerity, Britain reiterated its commitment to establishing a welfare state. While the home economy sputtered, the lossof India in 1947 presaged a wholesale dismantling of the British empire. And as increased Americanization threatened to diminish British influence in both politics and culture, Britons debated whether joining the European Common Market would help bolster its international standing, perhaps ineparably damaged by the 1956 Suez crisis. Crowds celebrated the coronation of Elizabeth II in l952,but the counhy would soon enter what many have called its "Angry Decade," marked by both economic worries within Britain and the frustration of a diminished role on the intemational stage. This course examines the literature and culture of the United Kingdom in the tumultuous period between the close of World War II and the emergence of a reinvented Britain, in many ways once again the center of global culture. Literary texts will concem new and lingering international concerns after the war, revolution in men's and women's roles after 1945, the creation of both a welfare state and the so-called "Permissive Society," the fall of Empire and concerns about increased immigration, and the first signs of a youthdriven counterculture, seen in the rise of the "Mods," the phenomenon of "swinging London" and the preoccupation with juvenile delinquency. Discussions will seek to tiespecific literary texts with the broader social issues impacting the postwar nation.