Decadence, Degeneration, and Decline: The Popular British Novel
Harvard Extension School
ENGL E-142
Section 1
CRN 17513
The British Empire controlled roughly a quarter of the world by the end of the nineteenth century; its literature, however, was increasingly haunted by decline. This course explores why, by way of some of the writers and texts most responsible for shaping what it means to be British in our pop-cultural consciousness. Focusing on three kinds of breakdown—aesthetic decadence, aristocratic degeneration, and imperial decline—our course links popular texts like Dracula (1897), Brideshead Revisited (1945), and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) to the emergence of a new kind of British power based on myth and nostalgia. We also think about decline as a shaper of modernism, the political power of decline, and the cultural afterlives of the texts we encounter.
Credits: 4
View Tuition InformationTerm
Fall Term 2026
Part of Term
Full Term
Format
Live Attendance Web Conference
Credit Status
Graduate, Noncredit, Undergraduate
Section Status
Open