Literature since the '60s

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

1. Demostrate an understanding of the distinctive thematic concerns and formal innovations that characterise late-twentieth-century texts.
2. Locate and discuss late-twentieth-century texts in terms of their historical, social, and cultural contexts.
3. Display awareness of some of the key features of postmodernism as manifested in literary texts.
4. Examine the ways in which late-twentieth century literature engages with issues of class, gender, race, and/or nationality.
5. Write about literary texts from a range of genres in a critically-focused and well-structured manner.

This module introduces students to the distinctive features of British literature from 1960 to the end of the twentieth century through detailed engagements with a range of prose and poetry. The focus is upon writers and texts from Britain and Ireland, though the concerns of several of these texts with cultural hybridity and post-colonial identities will form the basis of discussion. Thematic lectures on ‘Post-war poetry’, and ‘Postmodern fictions’ will offer historical, literary-historical, social, and political contextualisation, as well as explaining key critical terms and concepts. At the core of the module, however, are detailed engagements with a small number of carefully-chosen texts, which will be interpreted from a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives. Students will be encouraged to relate post-1960s literary texts to a wider ‘postmodern condition’ from which they arise; to think critically about the ways in which issues of class, gender, or racial difference inform late-twentieth-century texts; and to explore the formal or generic features that are distinctive of literature in this period.

* To introduce students to a range of literary texts from the 1960s onwards, and in a variety of genres.
* To enable students to locate and discuss post-1960s literary texts in their historical, social, and political contexts.
* To encourage students to explore the distinctive formal or generic features of post-1960s literature.
* To enhance students' understanding of issues of class, gender, race, and sexuality as they inform late twentieth-century literature.

Syllabus outline

Lecture 1: Post-war poetry
Lecture 2: Heaney 1
Seminar 1: Heaney, New Selected Poems


Lecture 3: Heaney 2
Lecture 4: Heaney 3
Seminar 2: Heaney, New Selected Poems


Lecture 5: Clarke 1
Lecture 6: Clarke 2
Seminar 3: Clarke, Collected Poems

Lecture 7: Clarke 3
Lecture 8: Clarke 4
Seminar 4: Clarke, Collected Poems


Lecture 9: Postmodern fictions
Lecture 10: Swift 1
Seminar 5: Swift, Waterland


Lecture 11: Swift 2
Lecture 12 Swift 3
Seminar 6: Swift, Waterland


Lecture 13: Winterson 1
Lecture 14: Winterson 2
Seminar 7: Winterson, Sexing the Cherry

Lecture 15: Winterson 3
Lecture 16: Winterson 4
Seminar 8: Winterson, Sexing the Cherry

Lecture 17: Kay 1
Lecture 18: Kay 2
Seminar 9: Kay, Trumpet


Lecture 19: Kay 3
Lecture 20: Assessment advice
Seminar 10: Kay, Trumpet

This module is at CQFW Level 5