Module: Literature of the Twentieth Century

Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title	Literature of the Twentieth Century
Module Code	LIT1049 (ITS: LIT2)
Faculty	Humanities & Social Sciences	School	English
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	15

Description

This module draws on the works of English, Irish and American authors. It begins with the question ‘what is modern?’ and leads students through key modernist prose and poetry by T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Wallace Stevens and Elizabeth Bishop. The drama section deals with European playwrights whose work was particularly influential in English translation as well as Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Later twentieth-century works include John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and Irish writers such as Elizabeth Bowen, Patrick Kavanagh and Flann O’Brien. Although very varied, the writing of this period is characterised by experimentation and the imperative to ‘make it new!’

Learning Outcomes

1. Analyse the ways in which historical, political and cultural developments influenced literature written c.1900-c.1960
2. Evaluate accounts of modernism and modernity
3. Interpret a range of modern and modernist poetry written in English
4. Describe the contribution of modernist dramatists to twentieth-century theatre
5. Identify the key features of the modernist novel

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full time hours per semester
Tutorial	15	No Description
Online activity	60	No Description
Independent Study	300	No Description
Total Workload: 375

Section Breakdown
CRN	11684	Part of Term	Semester 1 & 2
Coursework	100%	Examination Weight	0%
Grade Scale	40PASS	Pass Both Elements	N
Resit Category	RC1	Best Mark	N
Module Co-ordinator	Jack Quin	Module Teacher	Leeann Lane, Shirley Anne O'Brien

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assessment Breakdown
Essay	n/a	25%	n/a
Group project	Critical guide	35%	n/a
Essay	n/a	40%	n/a

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; RC1: A resit is available for both^* components of the module. RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module. RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element. ^* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite	l,
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

PART 1: MODERNISM AND MODERNITY

Unit 1: Reading Twentieth-Century Literature

Unit 2: What was Modernism?

Unit 3: The Modernist Text

Unit 4: The Meaning of Modernity

PART 2: MODERNIST LITERATURE

Unit 5: T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land (I)

Unit 6: T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land (II)

Unit 7: Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway

Unit 8: James Joyce, Ulysses (1)

Unit 9: James Joyce, Ulysses (II)

PART 3: MODERN DRAMA

Unit 10: Approaches to Twentieth-Century Theatre

Unit 11: Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts

Unit 12: Modernism in the Theatre

Unit 13: Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children

PART 4: AMERICAN LITERATURE: THE MODERN PERIOD

Unit 14: American Voices: Whitman and Hughes

Unit 15: American Modernisms: Williams, Stevens, Frost

Unit 16: Gender & Modern American Poetry: H. D. Moore, Bishop

Unit 17: American Naturalism: John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath

PART 5: IRISH LITERATURE: MODERNISM AND AFTER

Unit 18: Irish Poetry After Yeats: MacNeice, Kavanagh

Unit 19: Late Modernism: Elizabeth Bowen

Unit 20: Modernism & Post-modernism: Flann O’Brien’s At Swim-Two-Birds

Indicative Reading List

Books:

Beckett, S.: 2006, Waiting for Godot, Faber and Faber, London,
Bowen, E.: 1999, Collected Stories, Vintage, London,
Brecht, B.: 1993, Mother Courage and Her Children, trans. by John Willett, Methuen, (an alternative is Bertolt Brecht, 2010, Mother Courage and Her Children, trans. by Tony Kushner and Tom Kuhn Methuen Drama, but the quotations in the module units will not match this text book as it is a different translation),
Brecht, B.: 2014, Brecht on Theatre, ed. and trans. by Marc Silberman, Steve Giles, and Tom Kuhn, Bloomsbury, London,
Chekhov, A: 1989, The Cherry Orchard, trans. by Helen Rappaport, version by Trevor Griffiths, Faber and Faber, London,
Eliot, T. S.: 0, The Waste Land, (any edition),
Ibsen, H.: 2008, Four Major Plays, trans.by James McFarlane and Jens Arup, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
Joyce, J.: 2000, Ulysses, ed. by Declan Kiberd, 2000 edition, Penguin, London (An alternative is James Joyce, ULYSSES, 2012) ed. by Sam Slote , London: Alma Classics),
Kavanagh, P.: 2005, Selected Poems, ed. by Antoinette Quinn, Penguin, London (All the poems from this book that are referenced in the Module Text are available online),
MacNeice, L.: 1988, Selected Poems, Faber & Faber, London (All poems referenced in the Module text are available at Literature Online (LION) accessible through your DCU Library account),
Moore, G. (ed.): 2011, The Penguin Book of American Verse, rev ed, Penguin, London,
O'Brien, F.: 2000, At Swim-Two-Birds, Penguin, London,
Stanislavski, S.: 2013, An actor prepares, trans. by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood, Bloomsbury, London (see loop/unit materials),
Steinbeck, J.: 0, The Grapes of Wrath,
Walder, D. (ed.): 2003, Literature in the Modern World, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
Woolf, V.: 2000, Mrs Dalloway, 2000 edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford,

Articles:
None

Other Resources

None