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Why the Modernists hated wars, and why you should, too
Course Number: English R1A LEC 4 Units
Semester and Year: spring 2002
Location and Time: 221 Wheeler Hall MWF 10-11
Instructor: Shingavi, Snehal
Course Control Number: 28403
Final Exam Number: TBA
Booklist: Mrs. Dalloway--Virginia Woolf; Homage to Catalonia--George Orwell; Soldier's Pay--William Faulkner; The Palm at the End of the Mind--Wallace Stevens; The Collected Poems of Wilred Owen--Wilfred Owen; People's History of the United States--Howard Zinn

Course Description: Much of Modern English literature was written in response to the outbreak of World War I. Hemingway's wounded chauvinist heroes and the desolate landscapes of Eliot's ''The Wasteland'' provide some of the more conservative responses to what some perceived as a failure of western civilization. But there were more progressive responses to the war, as well -- both in literary innovation and in the political outlook for a broader human understanding. In the context of growing military conflicts and international imperialist rivalries, we will examine how the literary works of some of the modernists can inform how we might understand the literary projects of a new generation. This class has an anti-war emphasis; most of the literature that we read and essays that will we examine will take as their starting point the claim that wars are not the solutions that they claim to be, that they in fact destroy the lives of the people who lose and those who win. In this class, we will discuss the nature of war, its impact on historical consciousness, and strategies for writing about literature. If ideological conflists will make it difficult for you to engage in the discussion, please select another course.

This is a course at Berkeley taught by Snehal Shingavi, the leader of the local International Socialist Organization, the Stop the War Coalition, and Students for Justice in Palestine (funny how he just *happens* to be involved in everything). It's really entertaining when you realize that he claims to be anti-war (with the CTSW) but is also involved in two groups that actively support armed warfare (ISO and SJP). I think he wins. Please note this quote: If ideological conflists will make it difficult for you to engage in the discussion, please select another course. Translation: If you don't agree, don't take my course.