EN3224 Modern British Comedy

Course Description and Objectives

This module surveys the achievements of literature in Britain during the twentieth century using the mode of comedy to provide a unique perspective on the defining features of British literary culture. All three genres - fiction, drama, and poetry - are covered through representative examples selected to illustrate the development of these genres through the techniques of comic writing. The long tradition of British satire enjoyed its own restoration and reassessment during this period, and contemporary British comedy-which has its roots in the texts chosen for this module-currently enjoys its own renaissance across the world.

The module aims (i) to explore the interdependency between the language and techniques of comedy and issues of class, gender, and power in society; (ii) to explore the relation of literary forms and styles to the dynamics of cultural norms and social practices by relating developments in literature to social, cultural, and political history.

Primary Texts
1. Oscar Wilde	The Importance of Being Earnest & Other Plays (1895) rpt. 2000, Penguin Books; ISBN: 0140436065
2. P.G.Wodehouse	The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) rpt. 1999 Penguin Books; ISBN: 0140284125
3. Evelyn Waugh	Vile Bodies (1930) rpt. 2000, Penguin Books; ISBN: 0141182873
4. Samuel Beckett	Watt (1953, rpt. 1970) Grove Press; ISBN: 080215140X or Calder Press (1995) ISBN: 0714506109
5. Kingsley Amis	Lucky Jim (1954) rpt. Penguin Books (2000); ISBN: 0141182598
6. Tom Stoppard	The Real Inspector Hound (1968, rpt. 1996 in Tom Stoppard: Plays, vol. 1, 1996) Faber, ISBN 0571177654
7. Poetry Selections	Betjeman, John: "In a Bath Teashop” (RSP) Cameron, Norman: “The Compassionate Fool" (RSP) Fanthorpe, U. A.: "Not my Best Side (BT) "Fanthorpe, U.A.: "What, in our House?" (BT: Handout) Henri, Adrian: "Love from Arthur Rainbow" (BT: Handout) Henri, Adrian, " The New, Fast, Automatic Daffodils" (BT: Handout) Patten, Brian: "Where are you now Batman?" (BT: Handout) Mitchell, Adrian: "Nostalgia-Now Threepence Off" (BT) Morgan, Edwin: “The Mummy” (RSP: Handout) Reed, Henry: “Lessons of the War: Naming of Parts (RSP) Philip Larkin poems: Breadfruit; Going , going (BT) Larkin: Annus Mirabilis, Money (RSP) (CLICK ON UNDERLINED TITLES FOR TEXT) (More titles to be added. Texts not available on the internet will be distributed in class.)

Assignments & Continuous assessment

End-of-semester examination of 2 hours (60%)

1 class-presentation (5%)

general class-participation (5%)

1 essay of no more than 1,200 words (20%) DUE NO LATER THAN THE WEEK of Lecture 13:

i.e. due on TUESDAY 22 October. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT LATE EXCEPT WITH MC or prior clarification with your tutor.

1 mid-term quiz/short-answer class-test (10%): 30 mins of normal lecture time around week of lecture 6 or 7.

Essay topics

(Note: try and bring in two texts from the syllabus into your essay, and keep a structured argument in focus throughout your essay. You are also invited to come up with thematic approaches comparable to the ones given below)

The role of class in interpersonal relations between masters and servants in British fiction

The role of types and stereotypes in British comedy

Sexual prejudice, repression and gender roles in British fiction or drama

The role of religion in 20th century British literature (.e.g. Beckett)

Satire, subversion and irony: the reasons for their persistent appeal

Marriage as a social institution: how it changes over time through the twentieth century

The role of stylized idiom in British comedy

The role of the metropolis in comedy: town/country, metropolis/provincial town issues

The role of the grotesque in comedy

Week	Lec.Date	Text/Author/Topic	Tutorial	Lecturer
1	30 July	Introduction: Contexts/Techniques		BT
2	6 Aug	Wilde		BT
3	13 Aug	Wilde/Wodehouse	1. Wilde	RSP
4	20 Aug	Wodehouse	2. Wodehouse	BT
5	27 Aug	Waugh	3. Waugh	RSP
6	3 Sep	Waugh/Beckett	4. Comparisons	BT
7	9-14 Sep	1-week recess
8	19 Sep	Beckett/CLASS TEST	5. General Qs.	RSP
9	24 Sep	Amis	6. Beckett	BT
10	1 Oct	Amis/Stoppard	7. Amis	RSP
11	8 Oct	Stoppard	8. Stoppard	BT
12	15 Oct	Poetry 1	9. Poetry	RSP
13	21 Oct	Poetry 2	10. Poetry	BT
14		Conclusion & Revision		BT/RSP

Recommended Reading
Comedy
Don L.F. Nilsen	Humor in Twentieth-century British literature: a reference guide (2000)
Allan Rodway	English Comedy: its role and nature from Chaucer to the present day (1975)
Fiction
Malcolm Bradbury	The Modern British Novel (1993)
Randall Stevenson	The British Novel Since the Thirties (1986)
Wodehouse
Robert A. Hall, Jr.	The comic style of P. G. Wodehouse (1974)
Jasen, David A.	P. G. Wodehouse: a Portrait of a Master (1981)
Waugh
David Pryce-Jones, ed.	Evelyn Waugh and his World (1973)
Humphrey Carpenter	The Brideshead Generation: Evelyn Waugh & his friends (1989)
Beckett
Angela B. Moorjani	Abysmal games in the novels of Samuel Beckett (1982)
John Pilling	Beckett before Godot (1997)
Amis
Philip Gardner	Kingsley Amis (1981)
William Laskowski	Kingsley Amis (1998; ch. 4 selections)
Drama
John Russell Brown, ed.	Modern British Dramatists (1968)
H. Bock/A. Wertheim, eds.	Essays on Contemporary British Drama (1981)
Wilde
Martin Fido	Oscar Wilde (1973; lots of pictures!)
William Tydeman, ed.	Wilde: Comedies (1982; Part II, sec. 4, and Part III)
Stoppard
John Harty, III, ed.	Tom Stoppard : a casebook (1988)
Anthony Jenkins, ed.	Critical essays on Tom Stoppard (1990)
Poetry
James Reeves	A vein of mockery: twentieth-century verse (1973)
N. Corcoran / G.Day, eds.	English Poetry since 1960 (1993)

TUTORIAL ORAL PRESENTATION SCHEDULE Each student is required to make one class presentation of 10 mins (max.)
Week	Lec.Date	Text/Author/Topic	Tutorial Topic	Presentation by
1	30 July	Introduction: Contexts/Techniques
2	6 Aug	Wilde
3	13 Aug	Wilde/Wodehouse	1. Wilde
4	20 Aug	Wodehouse	2. Wodehouse	1.
				2.
				3.
5	27 Aug	Waugh	3. Waugh	1.
				2.
				3.
6	3 Sep	Waugh/Beckett	4. Comparisons	1.
				2.
				3.
7	9-14 Sep	1-week recess
8	19 Sep	Beckett	5. CLASS TEST
9	24 Sep	Amis	6. Beckett	1.
				2.
				3.
10	1 Oct	Amis/Stoppard	7. Amis	1.
				2.
				3.
11	8 Oct	Stoppard	8. Stoppard	1.
				2.
				3.
12	15 Oct	Poetry 1	9. Poetry	1.
				2.
				3.
13	21 Oct	Poetry 2	10. Poetry	1.
				2.
				3.
14		Conclusion & Revision