ENG 388: SPEC TOP: 20TH C TRANS-ATLANTIC LITERATURE: MILITARY FICTION

This course examines literary representations of warfare primarily (though not exclusively) by American and British writers, with particular attention to conflicts of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through novels, short fiction, and poetry, students will explore how literature gives shape and voice to the lived experience of war and its aftermath. Readings will consider the perspectives of both soldiers and civilians whose lives are altered by modern conflict.

Above all, the course focuses on the psychological, moral, and social dimensions of war during and after combat: the immediacy of battle, the strains of military life, and the difficult passage home. Texts will also explore the wider reach of war into civilian life, including loss, displacement, memory, trauma, and the long process of reintegration after conflict.

Students will examine how narrative voice, poetic form, and perspective shape literary representations of combat, military culture, and life on the home front. The course will also consider how writers confront the ethical complexities of war and how stories of conflict help shape cultural memory and national identity.