The Post-War: 1945 to the present

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor: to be confirmed
• Assessment: one essay (100%)

In this module we will analyse the historical transformations of literature and cultural thought since 1945, using the contexts of post-war reconstruction, decolonisation, the fate of avant-garde art, and theories of postmodernity and globalisation. The emergence of international literary paradigms during the twentieth century is reflected in the choice of texts from British, American and post-colonial contexts. 

Indicative syllabus

• Introduction: periodising the post-war 
• 1940s: late modernism
• 1950s: post-war poetics
• 1960s: counter-culture
• 1970: feminism and dissensus 
• 1980s: high postmodernism
• Contemporary narratives: migration and transnationalism
• Contemporary narratives: trauma
• Contemporary narratives: speculative fiction
• Dissertation planning

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• understand the relations between literature and cultural history in the post-war period
• explore some of the key paradigms of understanding post-1945 literature, ranging from the ‘post-war’ to the ‘post-colonial’ to the ‘post-modern’
• read texts closely and consider the specific textual strategies employed by different writers in this era
• engage with ideas of ‘the contemporary’ as both a period and a concept
• demonstrate a thorough grounding in the key concepts for literary study of modernity
• recognise the post-war as a historical category, postmodernism, globalisation and the contemporary
• situate post-1945 texts within a number of historical, literary and broader cultural contexts.