Modernism and Avant Garde (ENGL20022)
Undergraduate level 2Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
Overview
| Availability | Semester 2 |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
This subject examines modernism, the movement in literature and other arts that lasted from roughly 1890 to 1950. Rather than trying to survey every major modernist writer, we will emphasize a number of significant figures and movements. Course readings will include novels, short fiction, essays, poetry, plays, and manifestos by writers such as James Joyce (on whose Ulysses we will spend two weeks), August Strindberg, W.B. Yeats, Gertrude Stein, Djuna Barnes, Aimé Césaire, and Jean Genet. In addition to working across genres, our course, like modernism, will work across national literatures. Students will learn about modernist movements and contexts such as dada, futurism, surrealism, symbolism, expressionism, theatre of the absurd, the African-American cultural revolution known as the Harlem Renaissance, the francophone négritude movement, and the queer enclaves of Paris’s Left Bank and New York City’s Greenwich Village.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- demonstrate a detailed knowledge and understanding of representative examples of Modernist and Avant-Garde texts;
- articulate the relationship between decadent literary works and the social, historical and cultural contexts that produced them;
- apply high-level analysis, conceptual sophistication and critical thinking to the study of Modernist and Avant-Garde texts and the controversies they;
- contribute to the understanding of Modernist and Avant-Garde texts in ways that engage the interests of the discipline of literary studies;
- effectively communicate an understanding of Modernist and Avant-Garde texts and their contexts in both written and oral formats; and
- have gained an understanding of how to act as critically informed participants within a community of literature scholars, as citizens and in the work force at large.
Generic skills
At the completion of this subject, students should gain the following generic skills:
- be able to apply research skills and critical methods to a field of inquiry;
- be able to develop persuasive arguments on a given topic; and
- be able to communicate oral and written arguments and ideas effectively and articulately.
Last updated: 14 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
106-227 Modernism and Avant Garde
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 14 March 2025
Assessment
Additional details
- A 1,200 word essay (35%), due mid-semester
- An in-class presentation and write-up equivalent to 800 words (15%), during the semester
- A 2,000 word essay (50%), due in the examination period
- Hurdle: This subject has a minimum hurdle requirement of 80% attendance and regular participation in tutorials. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of assessment must be completed to pass this subject.
Last updated: 14 March 2025
Dates & times
- Semester 2
Coordinator Sarah Balkin Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 23 July 2018 to 21 October 2018 Last self-enrol date 3 August 2018 Census date 31 August 2018 Last date to withdraw without fail 21 September 2018 Assessment period ends 16 November 2018 Semester 2 contact information
Time commitment details
170 hours
Last updated: 14 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
- A Subject Reader will be available from the Co-op bookstore.
- August Strindberg, Miss Julie and Other Plays (Oxford)
- James Joyce, Ulysses (Oxford)
- Alain Locke, The New Negro (Touchstone)
- Gertrude Stein, Selected Writings (Vintage)
- Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (New Directions)
- Aimé Césaire, Notebook of a Return to the Native Land (Wesleyan UP)
- Jean Genet, The Maids and Deathwatch: Two Plays (Grove)
- Subject notes
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Major English and Theatre Studies Specialisation (formal) English and Theatre Studies Minor European Studies Specialisation (formal) Graduate Certificate in Arts - English and Theatre Studies - Breadth options
This subject is available as breadth in the following courses:
- Bachelor of Biomedicine
- Bachelor of Commerce
- Bachelor of Design
- Bachelor of Environments
- Bachelor of Music
- Bachelor of Science
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Last updated: 14 March 2025