English 190

Book List

Burgess, Anthony: A Clockwork Orange; Fleming, Ian: Dr. No; Lessing, Doris: The Golden Notebook; Selvon, Samuel: The Lonely Londoners ; Spark, Muriel: The Driver's Seat

Other Readings and Media

Required course reader from MetroPublishing.

Description

This seminar will examine the fiction, drama, poetry, film, and music of Great Britain in the 1960s. Topics will possibly include: post-war and post-Empire; race and immigration; economic austerity and welfare policy; social realism and dystopia; feminism; “Angry Young Men”; Swinging London and mod; obscenity; the decriminalization of homosexuality; the British Invasion; and the Cold War. Course grades will be based on a 4-5 page paper, a 15-20 page research paper, and in-class discussion.

Readings will possibly include: fiction by Doris Lessing, Muriel Spark, Sam Selvon, Anthony Burgess, Alan Sillitoe, and Ian Fleming; plays by Samuel Beckett, Caryl Churchill, Harold Pinter, Shelagh Delaney, Joe Orton, and Edward Bond; poetry by Kamau Brathwaite, Stevie Smith, Seamus Heaney, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, and JH Prynne; films Seven Up, Dr. No, Kes, Victim, Women in Love, Quadrophenia, and A Hard Day’s Night; albums by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Zombies; and various political texts, including the British Nationality Act of 1948 and the Commonwealth Immigrant Acts of 1962 and 1968, the 1959 Obscene Publications Act, the Wolfenden Report, and Enoch Powell’s 1968 “Address to the General Meeting of the West Midlands Area Conservative Centre” (a.k.a., the “Rivers of Blood” speech).

Please read the paragraph about English 190 on page 2 of the instructions area of this Announcement of Classes for more details about enrolling in or wait-listing for this course.