History of Literature in English

This course offers an historical survey of literature from the British Isles and beyond. Through the study of representative works, the course aims to familiarize students with the characteristics of literary periods from the Middle Ages to the present.

This is a survey course that introduces students to the history of literature in the English language, from early writings from the Anglo-Saxon period to contemporary works from around the English-speaking world. Organized around works representative of major periods, movements, and places in literary history, and supplemented by historical information and documents, the course traces developments in the definition of English as a literary language, the status and role of the writer in society, and the ways in which literary texts circulate, as each relates and contributes to the understanding of individual texts. 

This 6.0-unit course will be divided into seven units that correspond to the major periods of literature in English:

1. Medieval
2. Renaissance
3. Restoration and Eighteenth Century;
4. Romanticism;
5. The Victorian Age
6. Transatlantic Modernism
7. Contemporary/Postcolonial literature