Contemporary Literature (Lecture Course)

Section 1:
This part of the course takes the Lady Chatterley?s Lover obscenity trial in 1960, in which Penguin were tried, and acquitted, under the Obscene Publications Act of 1959 as a starting point for a consideration of a selection of novels which have been banned, censored or proscribed by governments or religious groups.

Primary texts:
DH Lawrence, Lady Chatterley?s Lover
Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
Edna O?Brien, The Country Girls
Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

Section 2:
This section of the course will feature the work of four novelists from the second half of the twentieth
century who have been noted for the general distinctiveness of their writing styles and in particular for
their experimentation with conventional literary language and narrative technique. How these works parody or subvert certain types of popular fiction, particularly detective fiction, will be a particular focus of interest. Stanley Kubrick's controversial film adaptation of Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, will be a secondary area of discussion.

Primary Texts:
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange (1962)
Flann O'Brien, The Third Policeman (pub. 1966, written 1939-40)
Muriel Spark, The Driver's Seat (1970)
Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose (1983)

Assessment: Mid-term Assessment (20%) and End-Of-Semester Examination (80%)