You will find that some courses are only available for WEA members at this time, as part of member's priority booking. Courses will become available for all at 11 am on Wednesday 3rd July. Alternatively, become a WEA member today to book right away. Click on the 'Become a member' link at the top of the page.
Languages & Culture
Literature: British Colonial & Post Colonial Literature 10
Early booking is a membership perk for WEA members, where courses are available exclusively before becoming available for everyone else.
Course overview
This course will explore the following texts: Heart of Darkness -
Joseph Conrad; Short Stories by Kipling; The Siege of Krishnapur -
JG Farrell; The Jewel in the Crown - Paul Scott, and The English
Patient - Michael Ondaatje.
The course will track the decline of Empire and the concomitant
social and political uncertainty, the relationship between the colonial
and the colonised Other, and develop themes relating to identity and
the subjective nature of historical revision.
There will be ample scope for discussion of at times difficult and
controversial debates, and we will focus on the continuing
relationship that exists between contemporary writers and later
writers vis-a-vis issues of guilt and responsibility.
This course is for early booking only.
Course description
Our first text Heart of Darkness will establish the issue of the colonial pillage of Empire and relate this to emerging concepts of the dark heart of man, discussing issues such as eugenics, nationalism and idealism, as well as assessing Conrad’s inimitable style. We will develop these themes in Kipling’s short stories, and argue that these stories show Kipling as a far more complicated individual than the popular imagination allows, which has latterly viewed him as an apologist for Empire. The Siege of Krishnapur and The Jewel in the Crown sees us remaining in India, but an India and the British in India, assessed from a more modern perspective. In The Jewel in the Crown we will focus on questions of identity and the failure of liberal democracy during the mismanagement of Britain’s exit from the subcontinent. These texts will raise important issues of guilt and responsibility and the necessity for continued reassessments of Britain’s imposition of Empire. Finally, we will tackle The English Patient and evaluate its use of postmodern techniques applied to the relation of narrative. There is much to discuss in these fascinating and provocative texts as we shall discover.
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