Course image ENL356_S1_A_19: 'Unforgettable Corpses': Literature, Cultural Memory And The First World War
English And Creative Writing
Module Code: ENL356
Academic year: 19
Semester: S1
Occurrence: A
Level: L6
Location: BO

The First World War and its immediate aftermath produced the modern world: politically and socially, the First World War was absolutely crucial. It was also a period which produced a distinct literature and which formulated a unique literary culture, one which remains important for contemporary literary culture and society. The experience of combat troops in the First World War was reproduced in texts written by those directly involved in the conflict, materially impacted upon the English language and the literary imagination, and continues to have an often under-acknowledged centrality in political and cultural thought. This module will examine the literary products of this period, the methods by which the authors reproduced, described and fictionalised their experiences. It will analyse the use of different genres and will assess the development of a poetics of conflict specific to the First World War. The second half of the module will consider the use of First World War tropes in texts produced in the latter half of the 20th century, compare the application of those narrative devices, and critically assess the later use of those devices. In so doing, it will interrogate the on-going relationship between the First World War and contemporary literary culture and society.