View source for S The First World War in British Literature and Culture: A Centennial History

'''COURSE OUTLINE'''

3.02.121 S The First World War in British Literature and Culture: A Centennial History

* [Module] ang612 - Periods and Key Figures in Literary and Cultural History

* [Credits] 6 KP

* [Instructor] Dr. Christian Lassen

* [Time] Wednesday, 08.15 am - 09.45 am

* [Room] A01 0-010b

* [Description] The First World War has left a lasting legacy on British cultural memory up until today. Redefining modern warfare, the horrors of the trenches and the first gas attacks led to bloodshed of hitherto unknown dimensions. And from among the soldiers who actually returned to Britain alive many suffered from shell shock and its irreversible psychological damage. Apart from the many devastating personal effects, the 'Great War' rearranged European society in ways that profoundly disrupted established political alliances and eventually caused conflicts not only between Britons and Germans, but also between soldiers and civilians, front and homefront, men and women as well as the old and the young. Throughout the last 100 years, this defining period of twentieth-century Europe has triggered countless cultural and literary representations of war and trauma. Among these we find works as artistically diverse as the war poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon; the autobiographies of Robert Graves and Vera Brittain; Virginia Woolf's post-war novel ''Mrs. Dalloway'', Benjamin Britten's ''War Requiem''; Pat Barker's historiographic metafiction ''Regeneration Trilogy'', Alan Hollinghurst's novel ''The Stranger's Child'', as well as various movies like Stanley Kubrick's ''Paths of Glory'', Christian Carion's ''Merry Christmas'', Steven Spielberg's ''War Horse'', and, more recently, Edward Berger's ''All Quiet on the Western Front'', to name but a few. Focusing on the iconic figure of the soldier-poet and their representation, this seminar traces the social and cultural changes brought about by the First World War, thereby touching on issues as varied as public school education and early war enthusiasm, propaganda and recruiting, shell shock and trauma, comradeship, women's suffrage, pastoral and anti-pastoral poetry, and the constructedness of the (heroic) image of the soldier-poet.

* [Office Hours] Wednesday, 11.00 am - 12.00 am (online)


'''PRIMARY TEXTS (Mandatory Texts)'''

''Poetry Anthology''

* Walter, George, ed. ''The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry''. London: Penguin, 2006. Print. (excerpts, see below) [ISBN: 978-0141181905]

''Novels''

* Barker, Pat. ''Regeneration''. 1991. London: Penguin, 2008. Print. [ISBN: 978-0141030937]
* Woolf, Virginia. ''Mrs Dalloway''. 1925. Oxford: OUP, 2008. Print. [ISBN: 978-0199536009]
* Hollinghurst, Alan. ''The Stranger's Child''. 2011. London: Picador, 2023. [ISBN:978-1035028009]


'''ASSIGNMENTS'''

* [Prüfungsleistung]	Gruppenreferat (max. 3 Personen; ca. 20 Folien) mit Schriftlicher Ausarbeitung (10 Seiten) [oder in Ausnahmefällen: Hausarbeit (15 Seiten)]		

* [Aktive Teilnahme] 	Regular Attendance (cf. Richtlinien der BPO, Fakultät III, Studiendekanat), Course Preparation (i.e. watching the asynchronous presentations), 4 Abstracts

Please note that written assignments (abstracts, short term papers, long term papers) need to be composed according to the style sheet ("Leitfaden") of the University of Oldenburg, which can be accessed via the 'Institutswiki'-page of the English department. The style sheet not only provides relevant information on how to write a correct bibliography but it may also help you to structure your work according to academic standards.

Please make sure to sign the "Erklärung zum 'Plagiat'" and to attach it to your research papers.

* [Abgabefrist] 15. März 2025.  


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__TOC__



==Session 01, October 16: Introduction==


'''Organisational Matters'''

* Assignments
Assignments are graded and mandatory. In order to obtain 6 credits (KP), you will have to give an (group) presentation (Referat, 20 Folien) on one of the presentation topics specified in the syllabus. In addition to that, you will have to hand in a short term paper (Ausarbeitung, 10 Seiten) by the end of term (15. März). In exceptional cases, you may hand in a long term paper (Hausarbeit, 15 Seiten) instead of the above. However, an exception is only granted upon prior consultation.

* Presentation Topics, Presentation Groups
Presentation Topics are specified in your syllabus. In order to prepare your presentations, please pick a topic, get together in groups (see below) and write up a power-point presentation. Save the file and send it on to me so that we can discuss your presentation in your preparatory session. Preparatory sessions take place one week before your presentation is due, i.e. at the end of the session preceding your presentation. After the preparatory session, revise your presentation and make your file available on Stud.IP on the Friday ''before'' your presentation is due so that all participants can read/ watch the presentation in time, i.e. before the session.

Requests regarding your choice of presentation topics can be send to me via e-mail, starting on Wednesday, October 02. Please send me three possible presentation topics and prioritise them according to your preferences. I will sign you in in the order of the requests' arrival. Please check this page regularly to see if your requests have been met.

* Active Participation

Active Participation is ungraded but mandatory. In order to fulfil the requirements, you will have to attend class regularly (cf. BPO, FK III) and prepare the presentations prior to the relevant sessions. Moreover, you will have to write four abstracts, each including a topic, a state of research, a thesis statement, and a brief outline of your argument (approx. 1 page), in the course of the seminar. You can choose your own topic; however: all abstracts have to address different primary texts. In other words, your abstracts will have to cover the four primary materials from the course. Abstracts are due by the end of the week (i.e. Friday) that marks the ending of the respective sections, i.e. due date ''War Poetry'': November 15; due date ''Regeneration'': November 29; due date ''Mrs Dalloway'': December 13; due date ''The Stranger's Child'' January 24)

    Summary: Presentations

1. Pick a presentation topic and contact me via e-mail (starting October 02). Check below for available places. Presentation groups may consist of max. 3 people. Send me three suggestions and prioritise them accoording to preference.

2. Contact the other members of your group and prepare your presentation, i.e. power-point presentation.

3. Send me your presentation at least 8 days before your presentation is scheduled.

4. Discuss your presentation with me in your preparatory session 7 days, i.e week, before your presentation is scheduled. Preparatory sessions take place during the second part of class, i.e. Wednesday 9.30 am - 9.45 am.

5. Revise and upload your file on the Friday ''before'' your presentation is scheduled.

6. Give your presentation in class.

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Jule Behrens, Sophie Book

==Session 02, October 23: War Enthusiasm==

'''Primary Material'''
* Rupert Brooke. "The Soldier."
* ─. "Peace."
* ─. "Safety."
* Julian Grenfell. "Into Battle."
* John Masefield. "August 1914."
* John McCrae. "In Flanders Fields."

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Parker_Old_Lie.pdf?v=1720177940 Parker, Peter. ''The Old Lie: The Great War and the Public-School Ethos''. London: Constable, 1987. Print.] [pp. 15-27 and 196-254]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Hibbert_and_Onions_Introduction.pdf?v=1720177940 Hibbert, Dominic and John Onions. "Introduction." ''Poetry of the Great War: An Anthology''. Eds. Dominic Hibbert and John Onions. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986. 1-36. Print.]

'''Presentation'''
* Public-School Education and Male Homosociality, or: the Pedagogy of Patriotism 
* ''Presentation Group'': Jule Behrens, Sophie Book

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Marie-Luise Freude,  Melina Sophie Wehrhagen, Yasmin Abu Shameh

==Session 03, October 30: Home Front Propaganda==

'''Primary Material'''
* Pope, Jessie. "The Call."
* ─. "The Beau Ideal."
* Mackintosh, E.A. "Recruiting."
* Sassoon, Siegfried. "They."
* Brittain, Vera. "The War Generation: Ave."

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Winter_ImaginingsOfWarPosters.pdf?v=1720177940 Winter, Jay. "Imaginings of War: Posters and the Shadow of the Lost Generation." ''Picture This: World War I Posters and Visual Culture''. Ed. Pearl James. Lincoln and London: U of Nebraska P, 2009. 37-58. Print.]
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Gullace_HunPostersWWI.pdf?v=1720177940 Gullace, Nicoletta F. "Barbaric Anti-Modernism: Representations of the 'Hun' in Britain, North America, Australia, and Beyond." ''Picture This: World War I Posters and Visual Culture.'' Ed. Pearl James. Lincoln and London: U of Nebraska P, 2009. 61-78. Print.]
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Albrinck_MasculineIdealWWIRecruiting.pdf?v=1720177940 Albrinck, Meg . "Humanitarians and He-Men: Recruitment Posters and the Masculine Ideal." ''Picture This: World War I Posters and Visual Culture''. Ed. Pearl James. Lincoln and London: U of Nebraska P, 2009. 313-39. Print.]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Kingsbury_For_Home_and_Country.pdf?v=1720177940 Kingsbury, Celia Malone. ''For Home and Country: World War I Propaganda on the Home Front''. Chesham: Combined Academic Publishers, 2010. Print.] [pp.1-26 and 218-61.]

'''Presentation'''
* War Propaganda, or: Media, Affect, and the Language of Recruiting
* ''Presentation Group'': Marie-Luise Freude,  Melina Sophie Wehrhagen, Yasmin Abu Shameh

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Patrick Kreyenborg, Jaqueline Schulte, Maximilian Helms

==Session 04, November 06: Stalemate==

'''Primary Material'''
* Isaac Rosenberg. "Break of Day in the Trenches."
* ─.  "Returning We Hear the Larks." 
* Wilfred Owen. "Anthem for Doomed Youth."
* ─. "Dulce et Decorum Est."
* ─. "Strange Meeting."

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Gilbert_Rats_Alley.pdf?v=1720177940 Gilbert, Sandra M. "'Rat's Alley': The Great War, Modernism, and the (Anti) Pastoral Elegy." ''New Literary History'' 30.1 (Winter 1999): 179-201. Print.]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Fussell_GreatWar_ArcadianRecourses.pdf?v=1720177940 Fussell, Paul . "Arcadian Recourses." ''The Great War and Modern Memory.'' Oxford: OUP, 1975. 231-69. Print.]

'''Presentation'''
* Trench Poets, or: Modern Warfare, Nature, and the Anti-Pastoral Elegy
* ''Presentation Group'': Patrick Kreyenborg, Jaqueline Schulte, Maximilian Helms

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Wiebke Marken, Pia Nels, Johanna Rose

==Session 05, November 13: Comradeship==

'''Primary Material'''
* Wilfred Owen. "Greater Love"
* ─. "Apologia pro Poemate Meo"
* Ivor Gurney. "Sonnets 1917: Servitude"
* ─.  "To his Love"
* Siegfried Sassoon. "Banishment"

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Cole_ComradeshipWWI.pdf?v=1720177940 Cole, Sarah. "'My killed friends are with me where I go': friendship and comradeship at war." ''Modernism, Male Friendship, and the First World War''. Cambridge: CUP, 2003. 138-84. Print.]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Campbell._For_You_may_touch_them_not..pdf?v=1720177940 Campbell, James S. "For You May Touch Them Not: Misogyny, Homosexuality, and the Ethics of Passivity in First World War Poetry." ''ELH'' 64.3 (Fall 1997): 823-42. Print.]

'''Presentation'''
* Brothers in (Each Other's) Arms, or: the Homoerotics of Comradeship
* ''Presentation Group'': Wiebke Marken, Pia Nels, Johanna Rose

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Beata Gorecka, Hannah Bromberger-Wölbling, Aron Breuer

==Session 06, November 20: Shell Shock==

'''Primary Material'''
* Barker, Pat. ''Regeneration''. 1991.

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Harris_Barker.pdf?v=1720179821 Harris, Greg. "Compulsory Masculinity, Britain, and the Great War: The Literary-Historical Work of Pat Barker." ''Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction'' 39.4 (1998): 290-304. Print.]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Leese_Shell_Shock.pdf?v=1720177940 Leese, Peter. ''Shell Shock: Traumatic Neurosis and the British Soldiers of the First World War''. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002. Print.]

'''Presentation'''
* Shell Shock Male (''alias'' Male Hysteria), or: Representing the Traumatised Soldier in Pat Barker's ''Regeneration''  
* ''Presentation Group'': Beata Gorecka, Hannah Bromberger-Wölbling, Aron Breuer

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Amelie Ahrens, Marie König, Emma Scheil

==Session 07, November 27: The Talking Cure==

'''Primary Material'''
* Barker, Pat. ''Regeneration''. 1991.

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Whitehead_Barker_Regeneration_Hypnosis_Hystory.pdf?v=1720179821 Whitehead, Anne. "Open to Suggestion: Hypnosis and History in Pat Barker's ''Regeneration''." ''MFS: Modern Fiction Studies'' 44.3 (1998): 674-94. Print.]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Martin_Owen_Craiglockhart.pdf?v=1720177940 Martin, Meredith. "Therapeutic Measures: The Hydra and Wilfred Owen at Craiglockhart War Hospital." ''Modernism/Modernity'' 14.1 (2007): 35-54. Print.]

'''Presentation'''
* Craiglockhart War Hospital, or: The First World War and the Uses of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Pat Barker's ''Regeneration''
* ''Presentation Group'': Amelie Ahrens, Marie König, Emma Scheil 

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Elisa Stevens, Ann Kathrin Todt

==Session 08, December 04: Trauma==

'''Primary Material'''
* Woolf, Virginia. ''Mrs Dalloway''. 1925.

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/DeMeesters_Woolf_Trauma_gesichert.pdf?v=1720180084 DeMeester, Karen. "Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Obstacles to Postwar Recovery in ''Mrs Dalloway''." ''Virginia Woolf and Trauma: Embodied Texts''. Eds. Suzette Henke, David Eberly, and Jane Lilienfeld. New York, NY: Pace UP, 2007. Print. 77-93.]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Levenback-VirginiaWoolfReturning-1996_gesichert.pdf?v=1720180084 Levenback, Karen L. "Virginia Woolf and Returning Soldiers: The Great War and the Reality of Survival in 'Mrs. Dalloway' and 'The Years'." ''Woolf Studies Annual'' 2 (1996): 71-88. Print.]

'''Presentation'''
* "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori", or: Mental Health Crises, Stream-of-Consciousness Literature, and the Representation of Trauma in Virginia Woolf's ''Mrs Dalloway''
* ''Presentation Group'': Elisa Stevens, Ann Kathrin Todt

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Marieke Trenn, Emelie Klusmann, Charles Good

==Session 09, December 11: Post-War Britain==

'''Primary Material'''
* Woolf, Virginia. ''Mrs Dalloway''. 1925.

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Tate_Mrs_Dalloway_Armenian_Question.pdf?v=1720180084 Tate, Trudi. "''Mrs Dalloway'' and the Armenian Question." ''Modernism, History and the First World War''. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1998. Print. 147-70.]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Shin_NegativeDialecticsMrsDalloway_gesichert.pdf?v=1720180084 Shin, John. "Negative Dialectics in ''Mrs Dalloway''." ''English Studies 102.5 (2021): 552-62. Print.]

'''Presentation'''
* Clarissa and Her Kind, or: Post-War London, Civilian Incomprehension, and the Deconstruction of Traditional Gender Roles in Virginia Woolf's ''Mrs Dalloway''
* ''Presentation Group'': Marieke Trenn, Emelie Klusmann, Charles Good 

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Samuel Jarquin Avellan, Philipp Klingelhöfer, Lee Binra

==Session 10, December 18: Mid-term Recap==

* Recap
* Feedback Session
* Work in Progress

==Session 11, January 08: Historiographic Metafiction==

'''Primary Material'''
* Hollinghurst, Alan. ''The Stranger's Child''. 2011.

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Rivkin_TSCQueeringPast.pdf?v=1720764071 Rivkin, Julie. "''The Stranger's Child'' and ''The Aspern Papers'': Queering Original Stories and Questioning the Visitable Past." ''Alan Hollinghurst: Writing under the Influence''. Eds. Michèle Mendelssohn and Denis Flannery. Manchester: MUP, 2016. 79-95. Print.]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Rewriting_History/Hutcheon_PoeticsPostmodernism_Excerpts_gesichert.pdf Hutcheon, Linda. ''A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction''. London and New York: Routledge, 1988. Print. (Excerpts)]

'''Presentation'''
* History as Narrative, or: Subjective Constructions of the Past and the Truth Claims of (Literary) 'History' in Alan Hollinghurst's ''The Stranger's Child''
* ''Presentation Group'': Samuel Jarquin Avellan, Philipp Klingelhöfer, Lee Binra

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Joline Seliga, Christian Visser, Talea Erdwiens

==Session 12, January 15: Identity Construction==

'''Primary Material'''
* Hollinghurst, Alan. ''The Stranger's Child''. 2011.

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Eeckhout_Architectural_Landscape_in_TSC.pdf?v=1720764072 Eeckhout, Bart. "English Architectural Landscapes and Metonymy in Hollinghurst's ''The Stranger's Child''." ''CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture'' 14.3 (2012): n.pag.]

'''Further Reading'''
*TBA

'''Presentation'''
* War Heroes Revisited, or: De-constructing the Image of the Soldier Poet in Alan Hollinghurst's ''The Stranger's Child''
* ''Presentation Group'': Joline Seliga, Christian Visser, Talea Erdwiens

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'': Hannah Hein, Leonie Riehl

==Session 13, January 22: Grief and Mourning==

'''Primary Material'''
* Hollinghurst, Alan. ''The Stranger's Child''. 2011.

'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Johnson_ConfirmationBiasPoetsTSC.pdf?v=1720764071 Johnson, Allan. "The Latterday Sortes Virgilianae: Confirmation Bias and the Image of the Poet in ''The Stranger's Child''." ''Alan Hollinghurst and the Vitality of Influence''. Houndmills: Palgrave, 2014. 133-49. Print.]

'''Further Reading'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_WWI/Winter_Sites.pdf?v=1720764072 Winter, Jay M. ''Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History''. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. 54-77. Print.]

'''Presentation'''
* Spectral Visitations, or: Resurrecting the Dead Soldier Poet in Alan Hollingurst's ''The Stranger's Child''
* ''Presentation Group'': Hannah Hein, Alexander Ifebuzor

'''Preparatory Session'''
* ''Preparatory Session Group'':

==Session 14, January 29: RPO Session==

'''Guidelines for finding your RPO topic:'''

Your RPO topic needs to be related to at least one of the primary texts

    '''March 15: Term Paper Due'''

Please upload your paper to the folder "Ausarbeitungen und Hausarbeiten" on our Stud.IP page and send a printed copy to the address below.

Bitte stellen Sie Ihre Prüfungsleistung in den Ordner "Ausarbeitungen und Hausarbeiten" auf unserer Stud.IP-Seite ein und senden Sie eine gedruckte Fassung an die untenstehende Adresse.

Dr. Christian Lassen

Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik

Fakultät III: Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Ammerländer Heerstraße 114-118

26129 Oldenburg