Note: (For students admitted in 2023-24 or before, this course will be counted as an introductory course from List A after completion. Please refer to your syllabus at https://english.hku.hk/Undergraduate/Curriculum/English_Studies.)
This course will explore issues and themes that emerge in 20th century literature and culture and continue to shape our understanding of contemporary society. We will examine how a variety of literary and cultural texts depict the challenges of modernity and its impact on society, human relations, and ways of life. We will pay special attention to how authors have imagined scientific and technological innovations, represented the consequences of wars, and probed the complexities of cross-cultural encounters and conflicts.
Below are a few of the topics we will cover in this course:
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Literary responses to modernity in the 20th century
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The impact of science and technology on modern life
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The arts and human experience
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Gender, race, and cultural identities
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Tradition and Individuality
The course will provide students with a critical framework for interpreting and analysing literary and cultural texts from the 20th century. It also aims to help students develop a better understanding of the relationship between literature, history, and society. Students will engage with a wide array of questions and explore the ways in which 20th century literature has both conceived of and negotiated with modern experience.
There will be a two-hour lecture and 1-hour tutorial sessions each week. Tutorial sessions will begin in the third week of the semester. For the tutorial, the class will be broken up into two groups (Group A and B). Please take note of which group you are in and show up at the right venue and in the right week. There will be no swapping of groups. If you do not attend your assigned tutorial you will be marked as absent.
15% Participation in tutorials will include attendance, speaking up during discussions, brief presentations, and contributing to a positive learning environment
15% Quizzes
30% Mid-term essay
40% Final essay
Here is a sampling of texts that this course will cover. Please attend the first lecture for more details.
Excerpts from George Bernard Shaw, “The Sanity of Art”
H. G. Wells, “The New Accelerator”
H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds
Jean Rhys, Voyage in the Dark
Hualing Nieh, Mulberry and Peach
Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”