In this course, we will read profoundly influential works of British novelists who—partly through their interactions with one another and partly through their confrontation with political and intellectual upheavals—managed to define what we mean by modernist fiction. In what respects did the formal and thematic innovations of certain modernists constitute a break with prior practices? How can we make sense of these new practices? We will also consider works by those who either were looked upon dismissively by the major modernists or who themselves resisted what they saw to be the modernist agenda. Themes (throughout the course, and in no rigid order) will include epistemic uncertainty, symbolism, colonialism, empire, myth, urbanization, war, sexuality and gender, psychological experience, narrative and linguistic experimentation, and theories of the novel. We will ask what qualities distinguish each author. We will also explore the usefulness of the term “modernist” and ask whether we must discriminate among a variety of “modernisms.” Authors will include: Wilde, Conrad, H.G. Wells, James, Ford, Lawrence, Forster, Mansfield, Woolf and Joyce (be prepared to read all of Ulysses).