127011 KO Critical Readings in Literature (2021S)

“How are we to prevent war?” This is the question to which the narrator responds in Virginia Woolf’s Three Guineas. Such a question, it turns out, is more difficult to answer than one might imagine. The past century was, among many things, a century of devastating warfare, culminating in the rise and fall of various despotic regimes, imperial interventions, and the constant re-drawing of national and political boundaries. Alongside these events came a strong tradition of Anti-War activism, thought, and literature: an entire generation of writers and artists committed to the global struggle against senseless violence and destruction.

This course will examine the narrative tradition as it was carried out in the Anti-War Novel. Beginning from the early parts of the 20th Century and up to the 21st Century, we will touch on theories and themes ranging from (anti-)fascism, sovereignty, and national duty, to the military-industrial complex and political domination. At the same time, we will confront the staunch efforts taken to prevent ongoing destruction and catastrophe. Many of these efforts were futile and hopeless since, as Kurt Vonnegut tells us, "there would always be wars, and they were as easy to stop as glaciers". Nevertheless, we have a meaningful record of counter-voices and dissidents who never wavered in their commitment to peace. The Anti-War novel will thus provide a useful space to comment more broadly on cultural power and politics. Moreover, we will also discover the remarkable attempts to seek joy, beauty, humor, romance, and solidarity amid the constant threat of violence. Looking toward the Anti-War genre, we will be able to consider how narratives function to agitate for peace while trying to stop the extinction of the human race as we know it.